


From a Shell

by The Monster Lady (VisceraNight)



Category: Castlevania (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Carmilla Is Doing Most of the Suffering Here, Dubious Consent, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Gore, Graphic Description of Vampire Feeding, Keeping An Unwanted Pregnancy, Sexual Content, Unplanned Pregnancy, tokophobia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-28
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2019-09-01 18:06:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 19
Words: 25,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16770196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VisceraNight/pseuds/The%20Monster%20Lady
Summary: Feeling unnaturally frisky after gorging herself on human blood, Carmilla sets her sights on Hector... who says yes even though he'd rather say no. Afterward, they both regret it and would prefer never to speak of it again.Which would work out fine if not for two things: 1) Carmilla later finds out that she is pregnant from their encounter, and 2) Dracula is overjoyed at the idea that Hector and Carmilla are in love and starting a family together.Of course Carmilla doesn't like this plan, but if pretending to be a couple with Hector and bearing a dhampir child is the way to stop Dracula's madness, then she will grudgingly go along with it.





	1. In the Worst Way

~ From a Shell ~

Carmilla returned from the hunt giddy, blood-drunk, seeking a partner to help relieve her carnal desires. Males normally weren't her preference, but her choices here were limited and those females that were present suited her tastes even less than a certain male who'd caught her eye...

And so, having chosen, she pursued her target. Cornering him alone at his forge, she wound her arms around his neck and pressed a kiss upon him. He protested - at first in confusion, and then in concern for her condition. She'd overfed, and it was the tide of blood rushing through her body that was prompting her to take these actions.

He gently gripped her wrists and peeled her arms away from his neck, then let go and took a step back from her. Even though that step put his back against the wall, placing himself in an even more vulnerable position, that was the action he chose rather than pushing her away.

 _Such a gentle soul_ , she mused to herself. Carmilla was perversely pleased with the rejection, as it was made with her interests at heart, rather than his own. He hadn't expressed a lack of attraction, merely concern that her desires weren't true and she might regret her actions later.

"Hector..." she said his name with a sigh. "Do you think I'm not in control of myself right now? Do you think I'm not _aware_ that my current lust is an effect of how much I've drunk?" She closed the space between them and cupped his cheek in her hand. "Won't you help me, Hector?"

As she watched, his expression softened from fearful concern to a more self-centered type of worry.

"I... don't know if... I can."

She laid her other hand flat against his chest and leaned closer to him.

"You can't?" she inquired. "Or you won't?"

* * *

While he wasn't particularly interested in becoming involved with her in that way, Hector had no doubt that he _could_ indulge her desires if he so chose. His body's response to her sultry entreaties and the delicate touch of her hands was evidence enough that he would be up to the task.

What he _didn't_ know was if his efforts would be able to please her. He had little skill in that arena, and not much cause to practice it. Furthermore (and more worryingly), despite her claims otherwise, he was uncertain how in-control of her faculties she was at the moment.

At the thought, his gaze caught hers for a moment, before skittering away off to the side. She had tilted her head slightly to the side and was watching as he worked through his inner turmoil. The way in which she was watching him seemed more curious than predatory and made him wonder if she could tell the direction of thoughts his from whatever expressions he unconsciously made.

Her hands were still light upon him, one on his cheek, the other on his chest. He could slip out of her grasp if he tried. And she was still waiting for him to answer.

Despite the vast difference in physical strength between them and her blood-drunk state, he had no fear that she would force herself upon him if he were to turn her down. What gave him pause when his mind wandered down that path was the thought of who, in her inebriated state, she might proposition next.

The sound of Night Creatures being forged in the next room suddenly registered in his mind, although it had been going on in the background this whole time, and-

 _Oh God, what if she goes after Isaac next? Her proposition would almost certainly be met with violence_.

* * *

His hands came up to cover hers and tenderly remove them from their resting places on his body, but the answer that finally fell from his mouth was not the rejection this action led her to expect.

"I'm afraid I don't have much experience. I may not be able to please you."

"Oh, don't worry," Carmilla said, smiling. "I'll teach you how to."

With a worried glance toward the neighboring forge room, he let go of one of her hands, and, keeping hold of the other, wordlessly led her to his bedroom.

Impatient to begin, she quickly dispensed with both her clothes and his, tossing the garments carelessly to the floor. She began to instruct him on how to pleasure her, and at first he was so nervous and awkward about it that she wondered if she might not have been better served by someone else. (Although she shuddered to think of what would happen if she deigned to grace that foul goblin Godbrand with her favor.)

It didn't take long for Hector to become bolder and more confident in the way he touched her as she taught him how to pet her body. Perhaps he would make an adequate lover after all...

~to be continued~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For something that could be summarized as "their fake relationship cures Dracula's depression", this isn't going to be particularly humorous...
> 
> If you're looking for smut, this is not really the place. Although there will be sex scenes in future chapters that don't 'fade to black' (unlike the end of chapter 1), that's not really the focus of the story. Chapter 2 is not going to pick up directly where chapter 1 left off, it will jump ahead to the aftermath.


	2. And the World Stands Still (i)

~ From a Shell ~

Once she was in her right mind, Carmilla immediately regretted what had transpired between her and Hector - for several reasons, not the least of which was that she'd fucked over her own strategy by crawling into bed with him. It made everything awkward. She needed the Forgemasters to conspire with her in order to have any chance to stop Dracula's misguided war.

It did not escape her notice that Hector now carefully avoided any attempt she made to engage him in conversation, much less any opportunity for her to get him alone. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to escape the other Forgemaster's notice, either - and Isaac was dead-set against her suggestion of moving the castle to Braila.

The last time she'd tried to sway the stubborn human to her way of thinking, Isaac had waited until she'd finished speaking, not listening to a word she'd said, and then asked her pointedly, "Have you spoken to Hector?"

"No."

"You should."

And, with that, he walked away, leaving her to wonder whether he was simply telling her that she needed to convince _both_ Forgemasters to go along with her plan, or if he _knew_ the reason that she and Hector weren't on speaking terms with one another. But how would he know? Had Hector talked to him about it? The two of them didn't seem like friends, so that seemed unlikely.

Then a horrifying thought struck her.

_Oh, God. Did he overhear us that night?_

Her thoughts briefly short-circuited as revulsion crawled through her. It was one thing for Isaac to harbor suspicions about the cause of the sudden thread of discord between her and Hector, but it was another thing entirely if he had intimate knowledge of their... little indiscretion.

Perhaps she should try speaking to Dracula directly about moving the castle again. Surely that would be less humiliating than making any further attempts at getting Hector to talk to her.

* * *

At the sound of high-heeled footsteps approaching the door of his study, Dracula let out a heavy sigh. What was someone coming to bother him about now? Couldn't everyone just do what he said and leave him alone?

The footsteps drew nearer, passed through the doorway without even a pause, yet faltered once inside the room. He turned his head and saw his visitor stumble, although there was nothing on the floor for her to trip over, and a flash of alarm cut through his general annoyance.

He was at her side in an instant, too late to stop her from falling entirely, but he caught hold of her elbow and eased her to the ground, keeping her torso upright as her legs folded under her.

Vampires _did not_ lose their balance for no apparent reason. That was _not a thing that happened_. Something must be wrong with her. However, vampires also did not succumb to illnesses. Had she been poisoned, perhaps? Considering how ill-liked she was amongst his generals, that was a plausible explanation...

"Carmilla?"

She blinked up at him uncomprehendingly from her position on the floor, having made no move to stand back up. If her nonplussed expression was any indicator, she had no idea what was wrong with herself, either.

Keeping his hand in place on her elbow lest she fall over without his support, he moved to stand in front of her and held his other hand out to her.

"Carmilla? Can you stand up?" he asked softly, striving to keep his tone gentle and non-threatening. (Something he was very out-of-practice with lately...)

That seemed to jolt her out of her trance and she shook her head slightly, as if to clear it, before reaching out to grip the offered hand and allowing him to help her back to her feet.

She let go too soon, and if not for his hand bracing her elbow, she would have fallen again. Dracula looped his arm about her waist and pulled her to his side, holding her steady against him. When she tilted her head back to look up at him, he saw that the blank shock which had previously glazed her eyes was now replaced by a spark of fear.

"Do you have any idea what may have caused your... condition?" he asked.

She parted her lips to answer but was momentarily distracted by a faint clattering sound behind her. She glanced over her shoulder to see that the shards of black glass which normally littered one corner of the study had assembled themselves into a jagged-edged mirror. Rather than reflecting the room they were in, it appeared to be looking into another part of the castle... some kind of scientific laboratory?

"No," she answered, turning her attention back to him. "I just... felt dizzy all of a sudden. I don't know what could have caused it. I dare say I was as surprised as you were when it happened."

It was only after the two of them passed through the mirror and Dracula insisted on taking a blood sample to check for toxins, and inquired again if there was anything she could think of that may have caused her sudden bout of vertigo, that she thought to tell him: "I did overfeed a few weeks ago, but I've been careful since then. I don't think it's likely to be related to that."

Oh, how wrong she was... as she soon discovered, when after examining the blood sample, Dracula's next question for her was, "Did you happen to mate with a human male while you were blood-drunk several weeks ago?"

"... what?" she asked, hoping she'd misheard him.

"You are 'in a delicate condition,' Carmilla." When she just stared at him uncomprehendingly, he clarified, "You're pregnant."

And since vampires could not reproduce with one another in that way, the obvious conclusion was that she'd been with a human. While dhampirs like Dracula's son were rarely conceived, it was almost unheard-of for a _female_ vampire to have a child. Especially since she would have to feed voraciously to keep her body sanguine enough to support the growing life within her.

"This does present a problem," Dracula said.

 _All I have to do to take care of this little problem is temporarily cease any blood intake, and it will sort itself out_.

It was a good thing she stopped herself from voicing that thought aloud, as a moment later Dracula continued, "Since you can't hunt for yourself in this condition without risk to the child, we'll have to figure out a way to keep you properly fed until the baby is born."

 _He... he is really expecting me to bear this child?_ she thought to herself incredulously.

She glanced over at the vampire lord, and noticed that Dracula was gazing at her with something akin to fatherly concern as he pondered the logistics of getting fresh blood into the castle for her. Besides when she'd fallen earlier, this was the only time since arriving at the castle that she'd seen him soften at all from his usual state of barely-leashed rage.

If it was possible that going through with this would help bring peace to Dracula's tormented heart and stop his human-exterminating rampage, then it would be worth it, right? Her other plan could be shelved for the moment, to be put back into motion only if it became necessary in the future.

~to be continued~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does Dracula seem a little too concerned about Carmilla's well-being here based on the way he acted in canon? At least somewhat, yeah. But letting her faint somewhere and having someone else carry her to him in a panic seemed even more contrived than Drac suddenly having Fatherly Feelings toward someone in his care who seems unwell, so he's being a good Concerned Vampire Grand Patriarch for the purposes of this fic.
> 
> Also I couldn't really find a place to throw it in the chapter without making it stick out awkwardly since I'd switched back to Carmilla's point of view by then, but this is probably the first time he's gone into the castle's medical lab since Lisa died... T^T


	3. And the World Stands Still (ii)

~ From a Shell ~

Uncertain what to do at this point, Carmilla remained silent, still sitting awkwardly on the examination table where Dracula had placed her before extracting the sample of her blood earlier.

"By the way, who is the father?" Dracula phrased the question as though it was an afterthought, although the tone of his voice belied that supposition.

She hesitated, not wanting to give voice to the truth of the situation.

Of course, she couldn't lie to Dracula. And the longer she waited to answer, the more suspicious he would become that the father of her child was some random human that she'd used and then eaten - which, while technically worse than what she'd actually done, felt like it would be somehow less humiliating to admit.

For a moment she considered that with the vague timeframe she'd given, she could claim that it was someone she knew back home and that the incident had occurred before she'd left Styria. But she discarded that thought almost as soon as it crossed her mind. Lying to Dracula was not a good idea. Especially since the truth was sure to come out eventually anyway. She might as well get it over with.

Yet still she hesitated, the uncomfortable silence stretching on for a few long moments more, before she gave in and admitted softly, "It's Hector."

Dracula's eyebrows rose at this revelation.

* * *

Hector was working at his forge, creating new Night Creatures when one of the castle's vampire guards approached him. He was so absorbed in his task that he did not realize someone had entered the forge chamber until Cezar barked, alerting him to the guard's presence.

The undead pug was not much of a guard dog, as he continued to bark excitedly and trotted over to the armored vampire in the hope of receiving pats. The guard, however, acted like he did not even notice the Forgemaster's pet as he delivered a message to Hector.

"Master Dracula wishes to speak with you on a matter of some importance."

Realizing that he was being ignored, Cezar whined and went back to Hector, who knelt to scoop the little dog up into his arms. Once he stood back up, Hector noticed that the vampire guard was still standing there, apparently requiring some kind of response before being able to consider his mission completed.

"Ah, yes," Hector told him. "I will meet with him directly."

The vampire promptly left after receiving this confirmation.

The half-finished Night Creature upon the forge table let out a low groan, and the Forgemaster turned to look at it in surprise. He'd almost forgotten he was in the middle of crafting a new creature before he'd been interrupted.

"I really shouldn't leave that unfinished... it will only take a moment," Hector said to himself, and carefully lowered Cezar to the floor so he could take up his hammer and complete his latest undead creation.

As he made his way through the castle toward Dracula's study, Hector idly wondered what the vampire lord could possibly want to discuss with him. New orders for the Night Hordes, perhaps? No other possibilities readily came to mind. 

He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice Cezar had followed him until he stopped short in the doorway of Dracula's study and felt the pug bump into the back of his foot. As for what had brought the Forgemaster up short, he'd been expecting to see the vampire lord sitting in his chair in front of the fire, as usual. However, upon entering the room he saw Dracula standing facing the door with an impatient scowl on his face.

Quickly regaining his composure, Hector half-heartedly attempted to shoo his pet away before stepping further into the room.

"You sent for me, my lord?"

Dracula's scowl deepened as he caught sight of Cezar scrambling past Hector into the room, but his expression cleared a moment later.

"Yes," Dracula said. "There is something important that Carmilla needs to discuss with you."

Hector was startled at the mention of Carmilla's name, and even more shocked to realize that she was in the room. He'd been so focused on Dracula that he hadn't looked past the vampire lord to the only chair in the room - upon which Carmilla was seated.

At first he wondered if this was about her scheme to move the castle to Braila (which he'd heard about from Isaac), but then he noticed that she seemed distinctly uncomfortable. She frowned slightly as Cezar snuffled around the hem of her skirt, then sighed and reached down to pet him. The undead pug stood up on his hind legs, planting his front paws against Carmilla's shin, eagerly pushing his little head against her hand for more petting.

"Carmilla," Dracula prompted.

Her head snapped up, and guilt crept into her expression as she started, "I-"

But she did not continue.

Her hand stilled. Cezar pawed at her leg and whined until she resumed petting him.

Dracula sighed and, taking it upon himself to break the news, announced, "Congratulations, Hector. You're going to be a father."

At first Hector's mind couldn't make sense of what he was being told. Gradually the pieces all clicked into place. Carmilla. Carmilla was carrying his child. Guilt clawed at him as his next thought formed.

_Oh God, is that what she's been trying to talk to me about since then?_

* * *

The Forgemaster's shock was palpable.

Carmilla cringed. She'd known this was going to go badly, but Dracula had refused to hear of letting Hector go uninformed about their impending child for a single moment more than the time it took to summon him to this meeting.

Hector recovered his wits - or some semblance of his powers of speech, at least - in an admirably short amount of time, stammering out, "I... I didn't know... that was _possible_."

Carmilla distracted herself with petting the dog, only half-listening as Dracula explained the particulars of biology that allowed female vampires to conceive and carry a child.

"I see," Hector said thoughtfully, once the explanation was through. Most of his shock seemed to have faded by this point. "I'll have the Night Hordes return with live prey for her, if that would be an acceptable solution."

"Hmm, I suppose that would work," Dracula replied.

Carmilla noticed that they didn't ask her opinion on the matter, and tried not to be offended that the men were talking about her as if she weren't right there in the room. She'd had a chance to be part of the conversation and had failed spectacularly. It wasn't as though she was making any effort to speak up on her own behalf now, anyway. And, she had to admit, Hector's suggestion was not a bad one.

"Wait, how soon will she need to feed again?" Hector asked, shooting her a worried glance.

Carmilla blinked at the sight of that expression on the human's face. Was it possible that Hector might actually _care_ about her? Or was he only worried about the health of their unborn child?

"As soon as possible," Dracula answered, frowning. "The medicine I gave her should stabilize her for the rest of the day, but she has already started to feel the effects of not feeding enough to sustain the child."

"Should I-"

There was a note of panic in Hector's voice, and while he did not manage to vocalize the rest of his question, his hand came up to fiddle with the fastening at his collar. Both of the vampires took his meaning.

"That's not-" Carmilla started.

But Dracula overrode her protest with a decisive: "Yes."

~to be continued~


	4. It's a Buzz

~ From a Shell ~

As Hector approached Carmilla, she leapt up from the chair and snarled, "Don't! That's _useless_ as a solution, even in the short term, and will just delay you from giving your creatures their new orders."

Hector froze.

The Forgemaster wasn't afraid, per se. Rather, he was completely baffled at the vehemence of her rejection. Was she so upset with him over the way he'd avoided her since the night they'd slept together, that she would refuse to take blood from him now, even though she was in desperate need of it?

He looked to Dracula for guidance, and saw that the vampire lord seemed amused by Carmilla's reaction, which only served to confuse Hector more.

"Well, of course, he can't serve as your primary blood source," Dracula said, "but there's no reason you can't feed from him occasionally." Noticing Hector's nonplussed expression, he added, "It's common between lovers when one or both are vampires." And, seeing that Carmilla still seemed distressed over the proposed solution, Dracula told her, "Relax. I'm not going to stand here and watch."

True to his word, the vampire lord immediately left the room, closing the door behind him on his way out. Neither Hector nor Carmilla noticed the undead pug following Dracula out of the room, chasing after the trailing corner of his cloak.

Once he was gone, Carmilla hissed, "We need to talk."

"Right now?"

"Yes, _now_ , while we're certain we have actually have privacy."

"... shouldn't you... drink first?"

"No. Talk first, while we're both still sensible."

He wasn't sure what she meant by that - which, sadly, summed up most of the previous conversation as well.

"Alright... what do we need to talk about?" he asked.

"Oh, _I don't know_ ," Carmilla drawled sarcastically. "This whole situation, the baby, the fact that Dracula thinks we're in a romantic relationship with each other and is very happy for us?"

"Right... about that... why does he think that we're...?"

"I don't know; he just assumed it."

"And you didn't correct him?"

She crossed her arms over her chest in an uncharacteristically defensive move, as she explained, "While he was preparing the medicine for me, he started talking about his wife - _without_ flying off into a rage over her death, just... fond reminisces of her pregnancy and their son's childhood... What was I supposed to do? Tell him that we had a one-night stand and hadn't even spoken to each other since?"

Hector cringed at this reminder of his own poor behavior.

"And besides," Carmilla continued, "I was still in shock over finding out that I'm pregnant. I didn't want to end up saying anything stupid, so I mostly kept quiet."

Which, he realized, meant that she hadn't known about the baby until today. This revelation, however, did not serve to ease his guilt over treating her badly in the weeks since their tryst.

"So... what are we going to do about...?" Hector trailed off awkwardly, not entirely sure what he was even trying to ask.

Carmilla let out a heavy sigh.

"We're going to pretend to be a couple, you're going to take care of my needs while I'm in this 'delicate condition' and then we're going to raise our child together."

"That just sounds like being a couple," Hector replied, nonplussed. "What would be pretend about it?"

She just stared at him for a long moment, during which he suddenly felt like an idiot and had the distinct feeling that she thought of him as such also.

"Hector..." she said slowly. "Are you in love with me?"

"What? No," he replied, too quickly, startled at being asked such a thing.

"That's where the pretending comes in."

She was still looking at him like he was an idiot, and at this point it was difficult for him to disagree with that assessment.

Hector let out a small awkward laugh, and even more awkwardly attempted to change the subject.

"So, anyway... speaking of taking care of your needs..."

Carmilla sighed and stepped closer to him.

"Fine... let's get this over with," she said, not sounding at all enthusiastic about the prospect of drinking his blood.

"So, uh... how are we going to do this?"

She directed him toward the chair with a hand on his shoulder.

"Sit."

He did, and she followed, perching sideways on his lap, her legs dangling over the arm of the chair.

"Hold on," she said.

It took him a moment to realize that her command was literal and she wanted him to hold onto her, not that she was asking him to wait. He wrapped his arms around her waist. She undid the fastenings at his collar and pushed the fabric aside, baring his neck. His pulse picked up as she leaned down and swept her tongue over a small patch of skin at the base of his throat. Then she sank her fangs into him, and his arms closed convulsively tighter around her.

* * *

Hector had undoubtedly been working at his forge when he received Dracula's summon. His skin was no longer damp with sweat but the scent of it clung to him, and when she licked the spot she was preparing to bite, he tasted strongly of salt. She felt him tense up under her as her fangs pierced his flesh. His hold on her tightened to a level which would likely have been painful if she were as fragile a creature as a human.

The tension (and Hector's grip on her waist) eased as Carmilla withdrew. He let out a strangled sound - somewhere between a gasp and a stifled scream - as she sealed her lips over the wound and began to suck.

She felt him shifting uncomfortably beneath her, heard the uneven hitch in his breathing, felt his heartbeat racing beneath her palm - all of which denoted _panic_. And, despite his arms still being wound firmly around her waist, she suddenly had a very real fear of being dropped on the floor.

She slid her arms around his neck, anchoring herself to him in case he _did_ end up doing something stupid in his panic like standing up or trying to push her away. She felt his hold on her begin to loosen and clung to him more tightly in response, her claws pricking at his shoulders through his shirt.

Then she felt a gentle touch on the back of her head. Hector's fingers trailed lightly from the crown of her head to the base of her skull, then lifted away, only to repeat the motion a moment later. His shaky breathing and increased heart-rate did not improve as she continued to drink from him, but his movements had stilled other than the hand stroking her hair.

 _Is he... **petting** me?_ she wondered incredulously, not sure whether to be repulsed or flattered that he would treat her like one of his animals. She was under no illusion that the action was done out of affection for her. It clearly had a calming effect on him, and was done in an effort to soothe himself.

* * *

As Hector gently ran his hand through Carmilla's hair, he fought the urge to buck his hips, or to pull her closer and-

He slammed his eyes closed, trying desperately to shut out those thoughts, to stop himself from noticing the way that the slinky fabric of her skirt clung to her legs, or the way her thighs clamped together as she tried to fight off her own arousal...

However, with his sense of sight cut off, it was that much harder to ignore the feel of her lips on his neck, the way her body pressed against his, and the small sounds of pleasure she made at the back of her throat as she sucked his blood.

Now that he was experiencing it for himself, Dracula's words about this being a common act between lovers suddenly made a lot more sense to Hector.

~to be continued~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, hey, we're finally getting to a place where the fic is really gonna earn that E rating! (Not quite there _yet_ , but yeah.)
> 
> More people are reading this than I thought would, considering the main pairing and premise of the fic.
> 
> If anyone has questions, comments, observations you feel like sharing... (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ please interact~
> 
> ~~anyone who can point out three (3) things i purposely set up to be problems later wins a prize~~


	5. With Some People Still Around

~ From a Shell ~

Carmilla wasn't worried about knowing when to stop. She'd done this plenty of times before, with her beloved pets back home. She knew how much she could safely drain from a single human and have them still be ambulatory afterward. She wasn't quite near that limit with Hector yet, but she was growing uncomfortably aroused and decided it was time to put an end to this before she did something she'd regret.

She slowed her draw, and after swallowing one last mouthful of blood, she ran her tongue carefully over the holes where her fangs had punctured his skin. Once they were thoroughly coated in thick vampire saliva, she pushed the edges of the wounds together.

As she was doing this, Hector let out a sound similar to the one he'd made when she'd initially bitten him. She let out a huff of annoyance. Sealing the wound was part of proper aftercare; she couldn't help it if the process hurt.

However, as she lifted her mouth from his neck, the fact was quite suddenly brought to her attention that what her partner was feeling _wasn't_ pain. The hard evidence of that pressed against her thigh. At the feel of it, her own craving intensified almost unbearably.

Even as she internally yelled at herself that it was just the effect of drinking his blood and _she should not be doing this_ , she leaned in and kissed him.

* * *

A faint taste of blood lingered on her lips, and as she insistently pressed her mouth against his, he had a hard time figuring out why it seemed wrong. It wasn't the flavor itself that bothered him, nor the fact that it was his own blood which he was tasting. Even as he gave in to his body's instincts and returned the kiss, something somewhere at the back of his mind kept insisting that this was wrong somehow. But it felt good, so why was some part of his mind so against it?

An image flashed through his mind, a brief memory of Carmilla's lust-glazed expression, which he'd seen just before her mouth sealed over his... and not only that, it was the _same_ expression she'd worn that night this whole mess started. She didn't _want_ him, not really. Her lust was fueled by some quirk of vampire biology. As the recipient of her bite, he'd been affected similarly this time, although apparently not quite as strongly as she had. And now that he'd realized that, it would be wrong of him to allow this to continue.

He broke the kiss, and immediately she leaned in to renew it. He stopped her with a single, sharply snapped, " _No!_ "

It was delivered in much the same way as one would chastise a misbehaving animal. He didn't mean to think of her that way, or treat her like one, but her response afterward reminded him more of animal's behavior than that of a rational being. She let out a small whine, her expression such a mix of hurt and confusion that it was difficult for him to resist giving in to her, and after a moment he found himself leaning in to lightly brush his lips against hers.

Carmilla was the one to pull away this time, and at first Hector didn't understand why. However, that action and her startled expression made sense to him a few seconds later, as heavy footfalls on the stone floor behind them alerted him of Dracula's return.

* * *

Dracula re-entered his study through the mirror rather than the door - mostly to keep Hector's undead pet from following him, since the dratted creature seemed to have developed some fascination with the corner of his cape.

While he was not entirely surprised to find Carmilla and Hector entwined in one another's arms, it was a bit of a shock to actually _see_ the lovers in such a sordid position _upon his very own chair_.

Having noticed the vampire lord's presence, the two of them sprang apart. Carmilla immediately scrambled up from Hector's lap, but the Forgemaster seemed too dazed to even think of trying to stand. Both turned to look at Dracula with embarrassed, guilt-ridden expressions - which reminded him strongly of the faces children would make when being caught doing something they'd been told not to, such as eating cookies before dinner or bringing home _another_ bird with a broken wing which would never fly again even with medical intervention... and, _damn it_ , now he was thinking about Adrian _again_.

Dracula cleared his throat and said, "I didn't mean to startle you... but it _has_ been quite some time since I left, and I was worried that she may have taken too much blood. Although I see that concern was unfounded."

He almost wanted to laugh at how humiliated the two of them seemed over the fact that he'd seen them kissing, although perhaps it was due to the realization that had he waited any longer to enter the room, he would likely have caught them doing something much more intimate.

Carmilla gathered her wits enough to give a weak apology (which she obviously didn't mean, but Dracula let it go with no response), followed by "We should go now," which was directed more toward Hector than anything.

The Forgemaster took that as his cue to finally get up. He managed to lever himself out of the chair with no problem, but once standing, swayed on his feet - and looked alarmed at his own lack of balance.

With an impatient sigh, Carmilla reached out to steady her lover.

In an undertone she informed him, "It's the blood loss."

Hector leaned against her side, seeming grateful for the support. Carmilla kept her arm around the Forgemaster as the two of them awkwardly and somewhat reluctantly made their way toward the door.

As they turned their backs to the vampire lord, Dracula couldn't help noticing the state Carmilla's hair was in. Utterly unpresentable. Honestly, both of them were a mess right now. Letting the two of them walk through the castle in the state they were in would be doing them no favors. No doubt they'd be seen by someone, rumors would fly, reputations would be soiled... Dracula didn't want to deal with the social drama that would result, and he doubted the young couple did, either. It would be best for them to keep their relationship secret from the rest of the vampire court for as long as possible, for their own good as well as that of their unborn child.

"Wait."

Dracula redirected the mirror's focus to the forge room, and beckoned the pair to go through.

~to be continued~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone has questions, comments, observations you feel like sharing... (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ please interact~


	6. Not a Sound (i)

~ From a Shell ~

Once they emerged into the forge room, Carmilla immediately let go of Hector. He stumbled, but managed to stay upright without assistance.

He turned toward her with a confused expression, and started awkwardly, "Uh..." but trailed off without actually saying anything, and continued to look at her expectantly.

_Doesn't he already know what he needs to do now? God, am I going to have to constantly give him instructions?_

She was already starting to regret this partnership.

The humiliation of Dracula walking in on them had taken the edge off of her lust, but Hector standing here like a dumbass waiting for her to tell him what to do completely killed any lingering arousal.

She let out a heavy sigh, and told him, "First, give the Night Hordes their new orders. Next, go eat something to help you recover from the blood loss. After that..." She shrugged. "Take a nap or something, I don't know."

"What are you going to do?" he asked.

She didn't know why he _cared_ , but she decided to humor him and answered, "I'm going to take a bath."

They went their separate ways without further conversation.

As Carmilla waited for the bath to be filled, she paced, ranting internally, _I should have just fucked Godbrand when I was drunk. Then we wouldn't be in this mess. Of course, then I would have had to deal with everyone knowing I was desperate enough to fuck Godbrand, because of course he can't be trusted to keep his mouth shut. But considering the circumstances, I think I would rather deal with **that** than... this_.

* * *

There were no humans in the castle other than the Forgemasters. Even the servants were all vampires. It seemed that there had been human servants in the past, going by the fact that the kitchen was located near the servants' quarters, which made sense if the only people in the castle who needed to eat actual food were the servants. (And wouldn't make sense if, for example, the kitchen had only been added to the castle _after_ Dracula took a human wife.)

Wondering about the castle's architecture kept Hector from thinking about how angry Carmilla had been at him for not knowing what to do. This was a confusing situation; she could hardly blame him for being overwhelmed. On the other hand, he could also understand why her emotions might be volatile at the moment.

And so, despite his attempts to curb such thoughts, he spent nearly his entire mealtime brooding about the situation while he ate.

Hector didn't know what he expected to find when returned to his bedroom, but somehow the thought that Carmilla might be there had not crossed his mind. He _definitely_ wasn't expecting to find her in his bed, with nothing on but a towel. There was a comb clutched loosely in one of her hands, but from the state her hair was in it looked like she'd fallen asleep without actually getting a chance to use it.

Although he wondered why she'd chosen to come back to his room after her bath instead of going to her own, Hector didn't see any point in waking her up now. She'd had a rough day already, and he didn't want to upset her any further.

He leaned down and plucked the comb from her grasp, then gently drew it through the wet strands, straightening out the tangles so it wouldn't end up drying into some ungodly mess. Afterward he set the comb on the night stand.

He noticed a lump of white cloth on the mattress beside her which, when he picked it up, turned out to be a nightgown. He didn't think he would be able to put it on her without waking her up, so he folded it back up and placed it on the nightstand beside her comb. Then he carefully removed the damp towel from her body, letting it drop to the floor as he draped a blanket over her.

Hector froze as Carmilla made a small discontented sound and shifted in her sleep. She didn't wake up, but her movement dislodged the cover, baring one shoulder and a significant portion of her back. Hector readjusted the blanket, tucking it securely around her. Just as he was finishing this task, he was startled by the sound of a voice from the doorway.

"Vampires don't feel the cold, you know."

* * *

Isaac was not prepared for the look of absolute fury that was leveled at him in response to his remark.

Hector stormed over to the doorway, in which the other Forgemaster was standing, and shoved Isaac back a step. Then he closed the bedroom door slowly, careful to make as little noise as possible in doing so - which, to Isaac, seemed bizarrely at odds with his anger.

Isaac barely had time to process the thought that the point of closing the door quietly was to avoid waking up Carmilla, and Hector's fury was reserved for _him_ , before Hector shoved him again - this time just for spite - and hissed, "Don't come into someone's bedroom without being invited!"

After retreating a few steps in case his fellow Forgemaster felt the need to resort to violence once more, Isaac said, "The door was open."

"That doesn't mean you're allowed to come in," Hector snapped.

He stalked past Isaac out into the forge room - again, seemingly with the intention to avoid waking up Carmilla, since it seemed that his half of the conversation was not going to take place at a reasonable volume - and Isaac followed him.

"What do you want, Isaac?"

While the two of them had never particularly gotten along, nor made any effort to do so, Isaac was surprised by his fellow Forgemaster's continued hostility. Hector was (arguably) the more friendly of the two of them. In fact Isaac didn't think he'd ever witnessed Hector losing his temper before.

 _Well, might as well get to the heart of the matter_. Out loud, he said, "What did you spend so much time avoiding her for if you were just going to let her back into your bed anyway?"

"My relationship is none of your business!"

"Oh, so it's a _relationship_ now?"

Hector just glared at him without responding.

Even though he did not expect to be taken seriously, Isaac still felt the need to warn him: "Getting involved with her is a bad idea. She's just using you. She's not in love with you."

"I know," Hector said, and some of the anger seemed to drain out of him at the realization that Isaac was trying to look out for him. "And I'm not in love with her, either."

That admission caught Isaac off-guard. But if Hector was actually aware of what kind of situation he'd gotten himself into, then why-

"If you know that, then _why_ are you continuing this... 'relationship'?"

Fury sharpened Hector's expression once more, and Isaac suspected that he was about to be told to mind his own business and the conversation would be over.

Then Hector turned away, and said in a strained voice, "Not being in love with her doesn't mean I don't care about what happens to her. I don't really want to be in a relationship with her, either... but it's too late now that there's a child involved."

"What child?"

" _My_ child."

"When did you have a..." Isaac trailed off without finishing the question. For a brief moment he wondered if Hector was referring to Cezar, before the actual implications of what Hector was admitting hit him. "Are you telling me that you got Carmilla _pregnant_?"

~to be continued~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... yeah. In this chapter, Hector finally snapped and vented his frustrations. Isaac is being a dick because he does not like or trust Carmilla at all ~~and he has a crush on Hector, not that you'll catch him admitting it.~~ (And yeah, as was mentioned in a previous chapter, he knows they fucked before because he overheard them. Carmilla was loud.)
> 
> If anyone has questions, comments, observations you feel like sharing... (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ please interact~


	7. Not a Sound (ii)

~ From a Shell ~

After his confrontation with Isaac, Hector started working on creating new Night Creatures. Besides the familiar action helping him to calm down, he wanted to have some creatures which were tailored specifically to the task of capturing and transporting live prey. Not that the old ones couldn't do the job, but they had been created with a different purpose in mind, and it would be better to have a pack of them that were dedicated solely the retrieval mission.

As he worked, he wondered if he should apologize to Isaac. Their fight had ended with Hector yelling _"Just fuck off and leave me alone"_ at him, after Isaac had told him that he didn't need to stay with Carmilla just for the sake of their unborn child, and tried to insinuate that Dracula would not approve of either the relationship or the child's existence.

Hector hadn't intended to lash out at his fellow Forgemaster like that, but just thinking about the way Isaac had tried to talk him out of being with Carmilla made Hector angry all over again. He'd never felt such rage over anything in his _life_. Seriously, what the _hell_ had Isaac been thinking coming into his room like that and saying those things to him?

Maybe _angry_ wasn't the right word. He'd felt... attacked, and as such he had become defensive of his personal space, his decisions, his relationship, everything. He felt protective of Carmilla - and not just because Isaac had insulted her, but also because her privacy had been violated when Isaac barged into the bedroom. Hector couldn't be certain how much Isaac had seen of her naked body, if any. He had no idea how long the other Forgemaster might have been standing in the doorway before making his presence known.

_And he thinks he has any right to dictate to me who I should or shouldn't have a relationship with?_

Hector was so consumed by his thoughts that he didn't realize how drained he'd become from using so much magic while still not fully recovered from his blood loss, until the hammer slipped from his grasp and clattered to the floor. His fifth new Night Creature gave a worried whine as the Forgemaster slumped against the edge of the forge table, bracing his hands against the tabletop as he attempted to regain his bearings.

The Night Creature whined again, and Hector lifted one hand to pat its head reassuringly.

Once he felt steady enough, he pushed away from the table and knelt to retrieve his hammer. As he stood with it in his hand, it slipped from his grasp once more, this time landing on the forge table. He cringed at the sound it made, only now thinking to worry if the noise of his forging might have disturbed Carmilla.

He'd been so consumed with anger after his fight with Isaac that he hadn't thought to check on her before starting to craft the new Night Creatures. Guilt crawled through him, with worry trailing in its wake, as he made his way to his bedroom.

He was relieved to find Carmilla still sleeping peacefully.

The bed was easily big enough for the two of them to share without necessarily _needing_ to touch each other, but he was too tired to consider that his partner might not _want_ to be snuggled in her sleep. He slid under the covers with her and spooned up against her, wrapping his arm around her waist. In doing so, he discovered that at some point she must have woken up long enough to put her nightgown on, because her skin was shrouded in silky material.

Guilt clawed at him again, but he reasoned that if the noise of his forging had bothered her, she would have come and told him to stop instead of just going back to sleep.

* * *

Carmilla awakened to the sensation of her partner joining her in bed - which, in general, was not an entirely unfamiliar or unwelcome event, although she was momentarily alarmed at the realization that a _male_ body was pressing against her. Then her brain woke up enough to catch up with reality, reminding her of her current partner's identity.

Even though their relationship was not technically 'real' and the finer details of their arrangement had yet to be defined, she wouldn't have minded the cuddling, if not for one thing...

"Ugh, get off of me," she protested, pushing his arm away. "You _reek_ of sweat and corpse rot. Go take a bath before you come to bed."

"...too tired," he mumbled against her shoulder.

"Hector, _go_ ," she snapped.

He made an indistinct noise that may or may not have been intended as an actual response.

 _Well, it looks like it's up to me to take care of this problem, then_.

She let out a heavy sigh and got up.

* * *

Hector was already half asleep and therefore only vaguely aware of Carmilla leaving the bed.

An interminable amount of time later, he was jolted back to full wakefulness as something cold and wet slithered up his thigh. His immediate reaction was, of course, to panic (as one does) and scramble away from whatever-it-was.

He opened his eyes to find Carmilla leaning over him with a damp washcloth in her hand and a mildly amused expression on her face.

"I was almost done anyway," she told him. "And don't think that this means you won't need a proper bath later."

He'd been under the impression that she'd gone back to her own room to sleep after complaining about the way he smelled. Apparently what had actually happened was that she'd taken it upon herself to clean him up while he slept. And while that seemed like something he should be offended about, it wasn't _that_ much different than what he'd done to her earlier.

"I, uhh... thank you?" he stammered out awkwardly.

Carmilla gave a perfunctory reply of "You're welcome," as she turned to drop the washcloth into a bowl on the nightstand. When she turned to face him once more, she said, "Oh, what are you blushing for? It's not like I haven't seen you naked already."

He hadn't realized he was blushing at all until she said it. She didn't seem to be expecting a reply, as she followed up the comment by promptly rolling over and going back to sleep.

Now that he thought about it, he wasn't sure what was more surprising - that Carmilla would take it upon herself to do something so considerate for him after she'd been so angry at him earlier, or the fact that he'd slept through having his clothes removed and his entire body being wiped down with cold water.

He was still so tired that he was actually considering going back to sleep without bothering to put any clothes on, but in the end he just couldn't commit to such an embarrassing course of action, and dragged himself out of bed to get dressed.

Just as he finished putting his pajamas on, there came the sound of something scratching at the bedroom door. Hector went over to the door and cautiously opened it just a crack. He was greeted with a happy bark and looked down to see Cezar sticking his fleshless paw through the crack, in a fruitless attempt to push the door open far enough for the little dog to enter the room.

Hector laughed and opened the door far enough for Cezar to pass through, shutting it again once his pet was inside.

"Where have you been?" he asked, kneeling to scoop the little dog up into his arms.

* * *

Dracula frowned as he flipped through the pages of the book in his hand.

 _No, it's not this one either_.

With a sigh, he snapped the book shut and slid it back into place on the shelf. He could have sworn the one he was looking for was in his study somewhere, but apparently it was not.

 _I suppose it must be in the library, then_.

He turned to the mirror and started to draw the runes that would redirect its focus to the castle library, but paused just as his claw touched the glass. The mirror was still focused on its previous destination: the forge room.

It wouldn't hurt to delay his search by _one_ moment to check on Carmilla and Hector, would it?

Dracula was relieved to find that they were both asleep - proper rest was important, after all - but frowned at the sight of the undead dog curled up between them on the bed.

~to be continued~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone has questions, comments, observations you feel like sharing... (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ please interact~


	8. Their Souls Making Sounds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note the shiny new tags added, which are for this chapter specifically and will apply to future chapters as well: Gore & Graphic Descriptions of Vampire Feeding. (I mean... it's a Castlevania fic so I don't think most people in the fandom probably need the warning, but there you have it.)

~ From a Shell ~

Carmilla woke to the sound of Hector calling her name. When she opened her eyes, he smiled softly at her.

"It sounds like your dinner has arrived," he said.

As if to illustrate the point, a scream echoed down the corridor from the direction of the forge room.

* * *

The Night Creatures had delivered three living humans to the forge room. They had retrieved a total of six, only half of which survived the journey to the castle. Not that the Forgemaster couldn't _use_ the extra corpses, but...

 _I think this proves my point about having ones specifically dedicated to the task. These ones that were redirected from the 'siege on human cities' directive don't seem to grasp the importance of ensuring their prey is brought back alive_ , Hector mused as he watched Carmilla tear into her meal.

It was nothing like the way in which she'd taken Hector's blood. He couldn't help comparing her actions to those of a feral beast as he watched her rip the throat out of the first human and lap up the blood that flowed from the ragged wound.

The Night Creatures continued to hold the human down, even once it was clear that Carmilla's current victim was no longer alive enough to be any threat to her. The flow of blood slowed to an unsatisfying trickle, and Carmilla lifted her head with a sigh. Then she plunged her claws into the chest of her prey and pulled out her victim's heart. It was only then the light in the human man's eyes finally went out.

Camilla raised the heart to her mouth and bit into it, and for a moment Hector thought she might actually eat it. She spent a few long moments draining the blood from it, before dropping the exsanguinated meat to the ground and moving on to the next victim - who received nearly identical treatment.

Hector noticed that she treated the third victim more gently, although whether that was because the human was female or because the worst of Carmilla's hunger had already been assuaged, he didn't know. She didn't stop drinking until the human woman was fully drained, but did not take the heart from her third victim. Carmilla stood and licked the blood from her fingers before turning and making her way over to where Hector stood.

* * *

Carmilla was dimly aware of Hector watching her from a corner of the room, but she had no attention to spare for him other than a single stray thought ( _I don't want him to see me like this_ ) which was quickly brushed away as she knelt beside her captive prey.

Conscious thought slipped away as her base vampire instincts rose to the forefront and she began to feed. Her hunger for blood was nearly sated by the time she reached the third course of her meal, and a different hunger began to build within her as she continued to drink.

Having finished her meal, she stood and cleaned her hands. Ignoring the Night Creatures surrounding her, she glanced around the room. Ah, yes. There was her mate, gazing at her with a look of rapt fascination. She went to him, and as she approached him, his expression flickered to fear then surprise and then, as she wound her arms around his neck... to something she couldn't so easily identify.

He flinched when she leaned in to kiss him.

"Hector... I'm not going to bite you."

"I know," he said softly, and his expression softened as well.

So, that _wasn't_ the cause of his fear?

She leaned in for the kiss again, but before her lips could touch his, he blurted out, "Wait!"

"Why?"

"I just... can we move to the bedroom, please? Out here is... exposed. Anyone could walk by and see us."

 _Aww, he's so modest. It's adorable, really_.

* * *

As Hector led Carmilla back to his bedroom, in a scene that felt oddly reminiscent of their first sexual encounter, he recalled what Dracula had explained to him about the feeding habits of pregnant female vampires. And that, combined with-

_Oh God, it's going to be like this **every time** , isn't it?_

Dracula had not warned him of _that_. But Dracula also assumed that they were already in some kind of committed romantic relationship anyway, so even if the thought had occurred to the vampire lord, he probably hadn't found it worth mentioning. Still, that would have been something useful to know before he'd agreed to go along with this in the first place. Actually, now that he thought about it, had he ever actually agreed to it, or had he just started following Carmilla's orders because that seemed like the reasonable thing to do at the time?

Hector was drawn out of his thoughts as his partner led him to bed and guided him down to a sitting position on the mattress. Again, much like their previous tryst, he allowed her to take the lead. She settled herself in his lap and drew her skirt up around her waist, guiding his hand between her parted thighs to the needy core of her body. As he began to slowly tease the slick flesh in the way she'd taught him that she liked, she whined and turned her upper body so that she could cling to his shoulders.

Carmilla was a vocal lover, which was something he knew some men found undesirable, but Hector appreciated that particular quality since he could tell by the sounds she made whether his actions were well-received by his partner or not. The volume and frequency of her cries increased as his fingers delved between her folds, until her voice broke on a scream as her entire body tensed up. He halted his movements as she relaxed, her inner walls still fluttering with aftershocks.

"Hector," she whined, digging her claws into his shoulders - but not hard enough to draw blood.

He realized that she hadn't tried to kiss him again after he'd denied her twice in the forge room, and now he nuzzled her cheek until she turned her head enough that he could capture her lips with his. She returned the kiss eagerly, moaning into his mouth as his clever fingers began to tease another climax out of her. The second arrived nearly as quickly as the first, and she broke away from the kiss to cry out her pleasure.

Carmilla took a brief moment to recover, and then she moved to straddle her partner, her hands working between their bodies impatiently to move clothing out of the way so that she could mount him.

Hector let out a low groan as her slick folds enveloped him. He laid his hands on her waist as she began to rock her hips, but made no attempt to control her movements, instead leaving it up to her to set the pace.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and for a moment he thought she was going to kiss him again, but she let her head fall back as her thrusts picked up speed. She was being rougher than he preferred, but it wasn't anywhere in the realm of unbearable, and he didn't quite have the heart to tell her to slow down. Instead, he wrapped his arms around her waist to pull her closer and leaned down to press wet open-mouthed kisses against the sensitive skin of her neck, until she tensed and shuddered against him.

He lifted his head, hoarsely calling out her name as her inner walls clamped around him, milking him of his own release. She clung tightly to him, burying her face against his neck as she rode out the aftershocks of her climax. Was this one really that much more intense than those that had come before it, or was he just imagining that because he'd shared in the pleasure this time?

Even after their bodies parted from the intimate joining, the two of them remained in much the same position, holding tightly to each other, the only sound in those moments being Hector's ragged breathing.

Something warm dripped onto his neck. A second drop landed on his shoulder, and a third chased the first.

"Carmilla? Are you... crying?"

Her answer came in the form of a strangled sob.

He gentled his grip on her as his emotions blended into a whirl of panic, worry, and guilt.

"Are you alright? Did I hurt you?"

"No."

"No I didn't hurt you, or no you're not alright?"

"Both."

"What's wrong?"

* * *

How could she tell him that she hated everything about this situation? Being in 'delicate' health and having to depend on someone else to hunt for her food, needing someone to look after her and protect her, the humiliating loss of self-control that would accompany every feeding... all of which she had to endure in order to have a child she didn't even _want_. And she could never let anyone know that she didn't want to have this baby - least of all the child's own father. What kind of monster would Hector take her for if she were to admit that she wished their child didn't exist, that she had an ulterior motive for keeping it, that her first reaction upon learning of their child's existence was the desire to rid herself of the 'little problem'? She'd made her own decision about the situation, but she already felt trapped by it.

Unable to voice any of her internal torment to her partner, she clung to him and wept.

Although Hector had no idea what she was upset over, he did his best to comfort her, holding her close the whole time, occasionally rubbing her back or pressing soft kisses to her temple, until finally her sobs quieted and her bloody tears ceased to fall.

~to be continued~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~So... Carmilla's got a lot going on in this chapter: a good meal, several orgasms, and an emotional breakdown!~~
> 
> If anyone has questions, comments, observations you feel like sharing... (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ please interact~


	9. The Earth and the Moon (i)

~ From a Shell ~

When Isaac entered Dracula's study, he found it empty.

However, judging by the disorder that was evident in several places along the bookshelves, it was a safe bet that the vampire lord could be found in the castle's library - which housed a much more extensive collection of reading material than that which lined the walls of this small room.

Upon entering the library, Isaac saw the vampire lord flitting from shelf to shelf, apparently looking for a specific book, although whatever search method Dracula was using was lost on the Forgemaster.

At first he wasn't sure that Dracula had even noticed that he'd entered the room, but then the vampire paused with a book halfway extracted from its place on a shelf and turned his head to look at the Forgemaster.

"Isaac," he said.

Just that: the acknowledgement of his presence. Then Dracula pulled the book from the shelf and opened it, frowned as he flipped through several pages, and reshelved it with a sigh.

"If you don't mind me asking," Isaac began, pausing to make sure he had the vampire lord's attention before he continued. "What are you looking for?"

"The journals of Antiflavius," Dracula replied. "I know I have them here somewhere, and the covers are red leather, but they're unmarked. Will you help me find them?"

"Of course."

Isaac didn't know who Antiflavius had been or what information the journals contained, but this was the first thing besides the genocide of the human race that he'd seen Dracula show any enthusiasm for since he'd first been summoned to the castle. Perhaps it would be better to wait until after the books were found to bring up... a certain unpleasant topic.

* * *

Carmilla had finally stopped crying, but was still clinging to Hector. She didn't want to move; after having three blood-fueled orgasms and an emotional breakdown in quick succession, she felt drained. Scraped hollow. It was hard to want anything at the moment.

Hector didn't seem particularly inclined to let her go, either. She didn't know how long they stayed like that before he gently, carefully disentangled her body from his and wiped the last traces of bloody tears from her cheeks.

"Hey, let's go get cleaned up, okay?" he said softly.

Not trusting her voice at the moment, she nodded.

However, she remained sitting idly on the bed as he got up and gathered clean clothes for the two of them. He didn't seem surprised at finding some of her clothes in his wardrobe, and it took her a moment to work out that he must have already discovered them earlier when he'd changed into his pajamas. He hadn't commented on it then, just as he wasn't saying anything about it now.

He started to leave the room but paused in the doorway and looked back over his shoulder, frowning once he noticed that she still hadn't moved from where she was seated on the bed. He started to say something, but before he'd gotten out more than her name, she slid from the mattress and stood up in one fluid motion.

His expression cycled through several emotions she didn't bother trying to identify before settling on _resigned_ as he turned away again, and she followed him out of the room.

In the hallway, they passed Cezar, who paid the two of them only minimal attention as he was busy gnawing on one of the desiccated hearts left over from Carmilla's meal.

* * *

The Forgemasters had their own bathroom located near the forge rooms, which was convenient for them - and also for the vampires who did not wish to be subjected to their body odor after they'd been working at their forges. (Although there were rumors that Godbrand _might_ be into that.)

The room had two entrances - one from the hallway that led to Hector's quarters, the other to Isaac's. Each of the doors could be locked from inside the bathroom to prevent one from walking in upon the other, and although neither of the Forgemasters usually bothered to _use_ the lock, Hector was grateful for its presence now. As he slid the deadbolt into place, sealing off the second entrance, he silently thanked whatever architect had had the foresight to include that feature when constructing this part of the castle.

As the bath filled, Hector stripped off his pajamas and then, once it was apparent that she was not going to take the initiative to do it herself, also stripped Carmilla of her nightgown.

He dropped the soiled clothing into a basket, briefly wondering what the servants who took care of the laundry would think of the blood-soaked sleepwear.

 _On second thought, considering this **is** Dracula's castle, they probably won't find it very unusual at all_.

The tub was only half full when he stopped the water, to accommodate for both of their bodies. He figured it would be easier for them to just bathe together, rather than taking turns, since Carmilla still seemed to be in some sort of mental fog which left her disinclined to do anything for herself.

* * *

He talked her through the process, murmuring gentle reassurances between narrating his own actions as he repositioned her body and scrubbed her various parts. Slowly she came to the realization that he was treating her more like one of his pets than like an actual _person_. And, while the logical reaction to that _should_ have been getting offended, Carmilla didn't feel that way at all. Hector got along better with animals than people, so it followed that if he was treating her that way, then he must feel at least some level of care or affection for her. That, or she was reading too much into it and he was treating her like a not-quite-tamed animal because she was a vampire, and he'd just received a demonstration of exactly how enslaved to her instincts she could be.

Once she was clean and rinsed, Carmilla stood up and carefully stepped out of the bathtub - the first action she'd taken completely of her own initiative since leaving the bedroom. She grabbed a towel and started drying herself off, turning her back to Hector to give him some semblance of privacy as he washed himself.

Once she finished drying her body, she wrapped the towel around her hair and reached for her clean clothes. She was pleasantly surprised to find that Hector had thought to bring her comb from the bedroom. She hadn't even noticed him picking it up earlier.

Carmilla set the comb aside as she got dressed. It seemed that Hector hadn't thought to bring any of her accessories - not her jewelry or even her _shoes_ \- although he'd chosen her day clothes rather than a nightgown.

 _Well, I suppose I can't expect him to get **everything** right, even though he's been trying so hard_...

Carmilla wrapped a dry towel around her shoulders and started combing the tangles out of her wet hair. As she was doing that, she absentmindedly noted the sounds behind her of Hector getting out of the bathtub and unplugging the drain. She couldn't hear his footsteps over the sound of the water draining, but she caught flickers of movement out of the corner of her eye as he retrieved a towel and dried himself off.

She finished combing her hair and used the towel to blot excess moisture from the strands. Glancing at Hector, she saw him vigorously rubbing his hair dry with his towel, like a heathen. Or maybe that was just what _men_ did.

 _Ugh, men_ , she thought with a sigh. _Hector has such pretty hair, too. I'm going to have to teach him how to care for it properly_.

He dressed in the quick, careless manner of men - which Carmilla also noted with distaste. Afterward, he turned to her with a slightly hesitant yet warm smile, and reached out to take her hand.

Although she didn't _need_ to be led along like a child, she did not shy away from the contact, instead allowing her fingers to curl around his as she followed him back to the bedroom.

~to be continued~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone has questions, comments, observations you feel like sharing... (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ please interact~


	10. The Earth and the Moon (ii)

~ From a Shell ~

The question of what to do next was answered by Hector's stomach, which let out a telltale gurgle. Unlike vampires, who could (normally) go weeks or even months between feedings, human bodies - like all _living_ things - were high maintenance and required multiple feedings per day.

It had been hours since his last meal, and his body was telling him in no uncertain terms that it was time for the next one.

"So, uh..." he began awkwardly. "I'm going to go eat..."

"Then go," Carmilla said, nonplussed.

"Do you want to come with me?"

"No. Why would I do that?" She lifted her hand to rub at the corner of her eye as she drifted toward the bed. "Besides, it's almost dawn."

Dawn, or in other words: a vampire's natural bedtime.

"How can you tell?" he asked, nonplussed.

"Vampire senses."

He nearly continued his line of questioning before realizing that it must be vital for vampires to possess the ability to tell when the sun was up, even when they were deep within many layers of stone walls, because to unknowingly walk out into sunlight meant instant death for them.

* * *

Carmilla didn't understand her partner's sudden reluctance to leave her side. Did he really think he needed to watch over her every minute of the day? Her health might be... questionable at best right now due to the pregnancy, but she was still a _vampire_ , damn it! She hardly qualified as _fragile_.

"Go," she said, as she sank down to the mattress. It came out sounding more tired than angry - which, she reflected, was perhaps for the better, as she was in no mood to get into an argument.

She curled up on her side and closed her eyes.

The awkward silence stretched on for a few long moments before finally being broken by the sound of Hector's footsteps... which, she noted with a slight frown, were coming _toward_ her rather than away. She was about to tell him off again, but he only paused by the bedside long enough to drape a blanket over her before he turned and left the room.

* * *

The only sounds in the castle library were the slide of books being pulled from - and subsequently pushed back into - the tightly-packed shelves, the rustle of pages being flipped through, and the disappointed sighs of the two searchers as they discovered that once again the book they'd picked up was not one of those which they sought.

Isaac had asked Dracula about how the library was organized, and was dismayed to learn that the books had been put on the shelves in the order which they'd been acquired, with no thought to any formal system of organization.

The two of them had spent hours picking through the shelves for books bound in red leather with unmarked spines, of which there turned out to be a great many, all of which so far had turned out not to be any of the journals of Antiflavius. There were six journals in the set, which would have made them easier to find if they had all been kept together. However, there was no place on any of the shelves where six books of similar size and binding stood beside each other. Which meant the set was scattered and any piece of it could be anywhere in this enormous sea of books.

"Who was Antiflavius, anyway, and why are these journals of his so important?" Isaac muttered to himself, forgetting for the moment that even from across the room, the vampire lord was able to hear him.

Although he most likely realized that Isaac's grumblings had not been addressed to him in particular, Dracula nonetheless chose to answer, still paging through books as he did.

"Antiflavius was a human doctor who served the vampire Hippolyta some four... or five centuries ago, during the time when her child was born. The journals are from that time."

Suddenly Isaac was intensely grateful that he had chosen to avoid bringing up the subject of Hector's relationship with Carmilla earlier, since it seemed that Dracula was both aware _and_ supportive of it.

"So... they are the journals of a human doctor who attended a vampire during her pregnancy?" Isaac asked slowly.

"Yes. A female vampire successfully carrying a pregnancy to full term is such a rare event that in our history there are only two well-known occurrences of it, and the only account of it that was ever written down in any capacity was what is recorded in Antiflavius's journals of Hippolyta's convalescence." After a brief pause, Dracula added, "Of course, Hippolyta is also old enough to have met Ahri - the first known dhampir to be borne of a female vampire."

Frowning, Isaac inquired, "If this Hippolyta is such an expert on the subject, then why not ask her about it?"

"I am not on speaking terms with Hippolyta."

The line was delivered with such finality that Isaac did not dare consider questioning his lord further.

"That's why finding the journals is so important," Dracula continued a moment later, in a slightly warmer tone. "The information in them is invaluable, and not just because they're our only viable source of knowledge on the subject. Antiflavius invented a medication that-" His eyes widened in realization as he cut himself off in the middle of his sentence. " _Now_ I remember where I left them!"

And then, faster than the Forgemaster's mere human vision could track, Dracula zipped out of the room.

Which left Isaac alone to wonder, _We wasted all that time looking for them, and this whole time they weren't even **in** the library?_

And he still hadn't told Dracula that he knew about what was going on with Carmilla and Hector - which, for some reason he couldn't quite define, left him feeling uneasy.

* * *

Dracula let out a relieved sigh as he located the journal which he'd left in the medical room. He'd consulted this one specifically for the stabilizing medication which he'd given Carmilla yesterday... and the rest of them were around here somewhere, if he wasn't mistaken.

Yes, there they were, piled on an old disused worktable with other things that he had been researching years ago, before becoming distracted by other things. Mixed in among the leatherbound journals was a thick sheaf of scrolls, the middles of which had been pressed flat between the books, although their edges still stubbornly curled in on themselves after he pulled them free.

He frowned at the pages, which were written in one of the few languages that he had yet to fully master. Amongst the scrolls, he found a page of his own notes with a partial translation. He couldn't actually remember attempting to translate them, but from the mess his notes were in, he hadn't made much progress with it. And then, there in the margin of the page, he spotted a line that was unmistakably Lisa's handwriting.

 _There is a full translation of this text within the journals of Antiflavius_.

His wife, helping him even now from beyond the grave.

And it hit him all over again. She was gone. His angel was _gone_.

Rather than sinking into despair at the thought, however, it only reinforced his previous course of action. He needed to learn everything that the journals of Antiflavius had to offer, so that Carmilla's family wouldn't be destroyed before it had even truly come into being.

And as he thought of Carmilla, the details of his conversation with Isaac in the library came flooding back to him. He might not have mentioned Carmilla by name, but the damage may well have already been done. Isaac was no fool and could have easily put the pieces together from what he _had_ told him.

He rushed back to the library, leaving the journals where they lay, and found the Forgemaster waiting right where he'd left him.

* * *

Isaac took one glance at the vampire lord's panicked face, and arms that were clearly empty of books, and said, "You didn't find them?"

The question brought Dracula up short.

"Didn't...? Oh, the journals! Yes, I found them."

"Good," Isaac replied calmly.

An awkward silence stretched between them for a few long moments.

"I already know about Hector and Carmilla, if that's what you're worried about."

"Oh..." Dracula said, seeming embarrassed that his panic had proved unfounded. "When did you find out?"

"The night the child was conceived, most likely," Isaac replied dryly. "Carmilla is loud."

~to be continued~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some OCs popped up, just ignore them, they're not important to the plot other than as a way to deliver information about female vampire pregnancies. ~~(And yeah, if you follow me on tumblr and have seen my ramblings about my Hellsing OC vampire Hippolyta, she's basically the same character here, except in the Castlevania-verse she has... an expanded family.)~~
> 
> If anyone has questions, comments, observations you feel like sharing... (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ please interact~


	11. The Earth and the Moon (iii)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **TAG UPDATES:** added Isaac to the character tags since he is one of our secondary narrators and should probably be in there, took down the long rambling tags from additional tags, added Tokophobia (fear of pregnancy/childbirth), and Eventual Romance. (I've been hesitant since the beginning to add a romance tag at all, but it should probably be on here.)

~ From a Shell ~

Hector's bedroom door was closed. It was most likely locked as well, although Isaac did not test that assumption before knocking. Time dragged as he waited, and Isaac was starting to consider knocking again when the door creaked open - only a small, cautious gap. A cold blue eye peered out through the crack as a fleshless paw scrabbled against the floor near the bottom of the door, and for a moment Isaac wondered if Hector was still angry with him or if he was only trying to keep Cezar from escaping.

"What do you want, Isaac?"

 _Well, that answers **that** question_.

Hector was quite obviously displeased with his fellow Forgemaster's presence... which Isaac had to admit was fair, considering how their last conversation had gone. But he was here for a reason.

"Dracula sent me to tell you-"

Clearly skeptical of that claim, Hector interrupted him, "You're playing messenger for Dracula now? Why would he send _you_ and not a servant?"

"Perhaps he finds me more trustworthy than a mere servant," Isaac asserted flatly. "Even if they are his direct fledglings."

The two of them stared each other down for a long moment before Isaac continued.

"And because I already know about you and Carmilla and... the child."

"Is it supposed to be a secret?" Hector asked, nonplussed.

It was at this point that the dog gave up trying to escape and retreated into the room, and Hector let the door fall open wider. Isaac caught a glimpse over Hector's shoulder of Carmilla lying motionless on the bed, before turning his full attention back to the conversation.

"Of course there will be a point when it becomes impossible to hide, but Dracula wants as few people as possible to know about it, for as long as possible."

"Why?"

"In order to keep Carmilla and the child - and _you_ \- safe."

"Dracula thinks we wouldn't be safe from the other generals if they found out about the baby?"

Isaac sighed.

"That's not-"

He abruptly stopped speaking when Carmilla appeared behind Hector in the doorway. Isaac hadn't seen or heard anything from within the room that would have indicated she'd even moved, but Hector didn't seem at all surprised when she came up behind him and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"You're thinking in terms of black and white when the situation is more... gray," she said. "Although some of the generals may not _agree_ with our decision to keep the child, they _are_ our allies - none of whom would _dare_ harm someone under Dracula's protection, inside his own castle."

Here she paused and wound her arms around Hector's shoulders. Watching, Isaac couldn't tell if she was doing it to annoy him, or if she was honestly seeking emotional support. Hector responded by laying a hand on her arm.

"The less people know, the less chance there is that the information will spread beyond the walls of the castle," Carmilla continued. "Rumors fly on swift wings... and any vampire hunters or other enemies Dracula has who _haven't_ decided that now is a good time to seek his head, may well be swayed to action upon hearing that his castle also harbors a pregnant female vampire."

"Because the only tale of it which they're likely to be familiar with is the plague of vampires that Hippolyta unleashed," Isaac took it upon himself to explain before Hector had the chance to ask why.

Carmilla pinned him with a look that clearly said she hadn't expected him to know about that particular bit of vampire history.

However, when she spoke, what came out of her mouth was: "If this is going to be a long conversation, don't you think we should have it somewhere _other_ than in the doorway?"

"It wasn't meant to be a long conversation," Isaac said. "And you should be having it with Dracula, not with me. He sent me to tell you he wants to speak with the two of you."

* * *

It felt strange to Carmilla to be standing in Dracula's study again, with the vampire lord looking at her with an expression caught somewhere between brooding and concerned.

Had it really only been the day before yesterday that she'd come here with some vague plan to talk Dracula into agreeing to move the castle to Braila, and had instead ended up finding out that she was carrying a dhampir child? It felt like so much had happened between then and now that a mere two days didn't seem like an adequate amount of time to contain those events...

Forgoing any social niceties, Dracula got straight to the point.

"As you're both aware, Carmilla's condition is very rare. What information we do have concerning pregnancies in female vampires comes from a single account, and very little of it is of any relevance here..."

"What makes it irrelevant?" Hector asked, frowning.

With a sigh, Dracula explained, "Hippolyta's feeding habits were already so indulgent that no one, herself included, realized anything was different until her body showed actual physical signs of change, nearly halfway through the gestation period. Therefore no observations or medical data were recorded during the early stages of her pregnancy. We _can_ conclude that a female vampire doesn't experience the kind of symptoms a human woman typically would."

Carmilla wasn't sure how she felt about that revelation. She was already conflicted enough over her condition without the knowledge that she'd be flying entirely blind here, with nothing and no one to properly guide her through the first half of this affliction.

As if he sensed her discomfort (or because she was showing visible signs of it without realizing it), Hector moved closer to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. Carmilla leaned into his side, grateful for the comfort, not caring that Dracula was watching them.

After a few moments of silence, she inquired, "But there is a detailed account of the later stages? Surely _that_ information must be useful?"

Dracula let out a heavy sigh before answering.

"Not as such. Once Hippolyta became aware of her condition, she turned her lover into a vampire and had him harvest blood for her. Within a month of being turned, he went mad, and began to turn his victims instead of killing them. Those unguided raw fledglings then turned others, who turned others, until there were no humans left and the nation was crawling with a veritable plague of newborn vampires. Hippolyta's child survived until birth only through a combination of medical science and the sacrifices of Hippolyta's loyal followers - both human and vampire - who offered themselves to her... as meals."

Dracula lapsed into silence, and did not seem inclined to continue.

The fate of the 'plague of vampires' - as it was commonly called - was a well-known piece of vampire history. Most of them had been killed by sun exposure, or each other, or the armies of neighboring countries defending their own human populations from the hungry fledglings. The few that managed to survive on their own, without an elder vampire to guide them, were hunted down and killed by Hippolyta after her child was born.

Having little contact with the vampire world until recently, Hector had likely never heard the tale before. As such, Carmilla fully expected him to inquire further about it, and was prepared to give him the answer herself if Dracula would not. However, the question that he actually _did_ ask caught her entirely by surprise.

"But what did she feed the baby after it was born?"

That was a subject which hadn't even crossed Carmilla's mind.

Dracula remained silent for a long moment before replying, "I don't know. There is no record of what happened to her child after it was born."

~to be continued~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol oops, I accidentally wrote the first half of the chapter from Isaac's point of view (it was _supposed_ to be Hector's, but that's not the way it turned out once I started writing...)
> 
> Does the second half of the chapter feel too much like an infodump? I mean, it *is* one, even though Dracula basically spends two entire paragraphs going "So anyway, we don't know jack SHIT."
> 
> If anyone has questions, comments, observations you feel like sharing... (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ please interact~


	12. The Earth and the Moon (iv)

~ From a Shell ~

Carmilla didn't realize exactly how poor of a job she was doing at keeping her emotions in check, until the moment that Dracula's expression softened as he looked at her and he reached out to pat her on the head - as one does to soothe a child who is visibly upset.

"I don't mean to scare you... that's not why I'm telling you all of this," the vampire lord reassured her softly. "True, we don't have much information to go on, but I'll research the subject further - as far as possible without alerting Hippolyta to my search, anyway. So you may rest assured that I will do everything in my power to keep you and your child healthy and safe."

Carmilla couldn't bring herself to respond, struck by the warmth and sincerity of Dracula's declaration. Although she could not quite fathom _why_ , he was honestly dedicated to seeing this child brought into the world.

"But," Hector spoke up, "if Hippolyta is still alive, then why not ask her-"

"That's not an option, Hector!" Carmilla cut him off sharply.

His arm dropped from her shoulders as he turned to face her, his eyes wide with shock at the vehemence of her reaction.

Hector started to ask why - she watched his lips begin to form the word - but then, seeming to think better of it, he remained silent instead. He reached out to take her into his arms once more, and Carmilla let him. She leaned into the embrace, laying her head on his shoulder. She hated to admit it - even to herself - but she _needed_ the comfort her partner was offering, craved the firm pull of his arms anchoring her to his body, taking the burden of her weight upon himself.

And, although he'd stopped himself from asking, she told him, "Hippolyta is a bad enemy to have, and an even _worse_ ally. What's more, we can't be sure which side she would fall on if she were to find out about me."

* * *

Something about the way she phrased it bothered Hector and it took him a moment to work out exactly why.

"About any female vampire being pregnant, or about _you_ specifically?" he inquired.

Carmilla's head jerked up at the question. She was obviously startled by what he'd asked. Her lips parted as if to answer, but no words came out. A small eternity passed as she stared at him, before the surprise faded from her expression and her lips pressed together in a frown. She laid her head on his shoulder again before answering.

"Obviously I was referring to myself, considering the context of our current situation, but what I meant was that we don't know how Hippolyta would react to finding out about another pregnant female vampire existing in general." After a pause - during which Hector began to rub her back soothingly - she added, "Although if she does remember me, I would hope it would be fondly."

Now it was Hector's turn to be thrown for a loop.

His hand stilled as he asked incredulously, "You've _met_ her?"

"Yes. It was centuries ago. Not long after I was turned, she came to visit my vampiric sire's court. She'd already been around for millennia by then, so I doubt it made a lasting impression on her. She may not even remember who I am at all... but I'll never forget the way she said, 'Oh, have your pretty little fledgling attend me' to him as soon as she laid eyes on me..."

Her voice took on a dreamy quality during the last bit of her tale.

Hector absently brought his hand up to stroke Carmilla's hair as he tried to wrap his mind around what she was telling him. He could admit that he was dense when it came understanding certain things, especially when it came to the ways that people interacted with each other (socially and otherwise), but no matter how he thought about it, there really seemed to be no other way to interpret it than that she'd engaged in some sort of sexual tryst with Hippolyta. And from the way she spoke of it, she clearly had been an eager participant at the time, carrying fond memories of the event into the future with her which she cherished even now, so many years later.

He was drawn out of his thoughts as Carmilla went on, "My old master wasn't happy about it, of course, but he wouldn't have dared risk offending someone so much more powerful."

_Wait... so, she was turned by someone **other than** Dracula? And served that vampire until... what? When? How did she end up as one of Dracula's generals?_

God, there was so much he didn't even know about Carmilla. And she had hundreds of years worth of history, connections, past relationships... compared to the mere quarter of a century that Hector had lived so far, filled mostly with solitude. He'd never been in an actual romantic relationship before, and she was expecting him to successfully fake one with her, when she clearly had so much more experience, and he was just clueless?

* * *

It wasn't until Dracula cleared his throat, startling both of them, that Carmilla realized exactly what she'd just said - and that she'd revealed more of her past than she actually wanted either her current lover or her current vampiric master to know. Her emotions had been all over the place these past few days, and it was making her sloppy. She needed to get control of herself and watch what she said - especially in front of Dracula.

Belatedly she registered the sensation of Hector's fingers drifting though her hair, and realized that he was struggling to keep himself calm.

 _Oh God, I'm going to have to discuss all of this with him again later. He's certain to have questions about the things I said, even if he's seen the sense of not asking them here and now_.

"There is another matter we need to discuss," Dracula said. "The forge area will need remodeling to accommodate your new living conditions, and the impending arrival of your child." He paused and a mischievous light sparked in his eyes. "Isaac also brought it to my attention that some soundproofing wouldn't be amiss..."

Contrary to the vampire lord's lighthearted tone when saying it, Carmilla recoiled sharply at that last statement, absolutely horrified by the implication.

She buried her face against Hector's shoulder and groaned. "Oh God, he really _did_ overhear us."

Not that she hadn't suspected it already, but having her suspicions definitively confirmed was something else altogether. Did this really have to happen right now? Hadn't she humiliated herself in front of Dracula _enough_ today already?

Carmilla remained silent, with her face hidden against Hector's shoulder, as the men discussed the details of the architectural changes to be made to the lower levels of the castle.

~to be continued~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone has questions, comments, observations you feel like sharing... (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ please interact~


	13. The Earth and the Moon (v)

~ From a Shell ~

The remodeling went smoothly. Hector's bedroom remained mostly unchanged, other than being enlarged somewhat and having more doors set into its walls - one of which opened directly into a private bathroom, another leading to a long and winding hallway that eventually ended at the castle's medical laboratory. There was also a mostly empty room which would later serve as the baby's bedroom. (They still had eight months before the impending birth in which to decorate it, and Dracula insisted on constructing the furniture for the nursery himself.) Cezar even had his own private little room, which was furnished with two different little doggie beds and a variety of things for him to chew on.

The bathroom which had previously been shared by both Forgemasters was now connected solely to Isaac's room. The forge area itself was mostly unchanged, other than the addition of a magically warded door that only Night Creatures and Forgemasters could open, which led to a newly renovated section of the castle's dungeons. The cells in this part of the dungeon had been updated to be suitable for the keeping of healthy live humans for whatever small number of days should pass between their capture and whenever Carmilla would require her next meal.

Carmilla's room in the generals' quarters was left as it stood. Since they were hoping to keep both her condition and the relationship a secret for as long as was practical, it needed to appear as if her room was still where she resided. Having her possessions (even the majority of her clothing) relocated to Hector's room would look suspicious if anyone were to enter her room and poke around looking for her.

It would be a pain to keep up that part of the charade. At this point Carmilla wasn't sure which was going be worse: hiding her pregnancy and (fake) relationship with Hector from the rest of the vampire generals, or what would happen _after_ they inevitably found out...

* * *

"We need to talk."

Carmilla had figured as much. Now that the two of them were alone, she expected Hector to ask all the questions about her past and her previous relationships that he had not dared to inquire about in front of Dracula.

What she did not expect was for all the insecurities that had been building up within him since the start of this whole mess to come pouring out in a stream of panicked babble.

She called his name in an attempt to snap him out of it, but he continued as if he didn't hear her.

"-and I don't know what I'm doing! I've never even _been_ in a real relationship before so how the hell am I supposed to pretend to have one and-"

"Hector."

"-you're the only person that I've ever fu-"

" _Hector!_ "

This time she succeeded in getting his attention and he fell silent, blushing in shame at his outburst.

She repeated his name again, softly this time, as she reached out and cupped his cheek in her hand.

"You've been doing fine," she said. "It's really not that complicated. You know how to express concern and affection. That's all you need to do." After a brief pause, she added, "And at this point, it's not like we're trying to fool anyone other than Dracula, who was already convinced that we were a loving couple just by the fact that we conceived a child together."

* * *

The touch of her palm on his cheek was a visceral reminder of that first night they'd spent together, and as the memories of it bubbled up his mind, he didn't register the words of reassurance that she spoke.

Carmilla stepped toward him, fully into his personal space. Based on both previous experience and the way she was looking at him now, Hector expected her to kiss him, and was mildly surprised to find himself wrapped in a hug instead. The hand on his cheek slid up into his hair to stroke soothingly through the silvery curls.

After a long awkward moment of not knowing how to respond, he returned the embrace, sliding his arms around her waist.

He didn't know how long they stayed like that - wrapped up in each other's arms, with Carmilla petting his hair and murmuring comforting noises - before the tension within him finally began to ease.

 _I'm the one who is supposed to be supporting her, not letting myself fall apart_...

But that train of thought led straight back to the tangled ball of emotions which had nearly choked him before he'd spilled out all his worries to her.

* * *

Just when Carmilla thought she'd finally succeeding in soothing him, she felt Hector tense up again. Repressing the urge to sigh, she cuddled closer to him and whispered, "It's alright, sweetheart. I'm here. Everything's going to be alright."

Her strategic use of the endearment paid off, just as she hoped it would. He seemed startled by it at first, but as she continued to stroke his hair and murmur reassuring sweet nothings to him (without repeating the term, as if she'd slipped and used it on accident), he soon relaxed - muscles loosening, heartbeat slowing and breath steadying into their normal rhythms.

She pulled back from him slightly and, brushing her hand through his hair one last time, said to him, "Okay, now that you're calm... go back to that last thing you were saying."

Hector frowned, struggling to recall what exactly she might be referring to.

"Oh..." he said slowly, a blush rising to his cheeks. "You're... the only person that I've... slept with... more than once."

 _So he really was about to say "fucked" earlier. But he edited himself just now to make it sound less vulgar. To avoid offending my sensibilities? Aww, how cute_.

Out loud, she said, "So you _weren't_ a total innocent before that night."

"No." Hector shifted uncomfortably under the scrutiny of her gaze, but did not attempt to extricate himself from the embrace. "There were one-night stands and... other trysts of that sort. But not... with anyone I ever had to see again afterward..."

Carmilla sighed.

"Well, I suppose that does explain your behavior for the past few weeks. I thought you were avoiding me on purpose, but it turns out you were just so socially awkward that-"

Hector suddenly pulled her closer, unintentionally startling her into silence as he did so, and buried his face in her hair.

His voice was muffled as he sheepishly admitted, "Um, I'm sorry, but I _was_ avoiding you on purpose."

"Hector..." She trailed off, not knowing how to respond to that revelation.

His arms locked tighter around her waist.

"I know it was wrong," he said. "And I'm sorry."

As tempted as she was to make a scathing remark about his past behavior, starting an argument with her sole source of emotional support was _not_ the kind of stupid decision she could afford to let herself make right now. Instead, she snuggled closer to him.

"It's alright," she said, turning her head to press a soft kiss to his cheek. "I forgive you."

~to be continued~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've had a hell of a time trying to get this chapter written. But it's up now! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
> 
> As always, your comments/observations/reactions give me life, and I enjoy answering questions.


	14. At the Bottom of the Sea

~ From a Shell ~

Unfortunately, and although it was not really Carmilla's fault, things did not progress smoothly over the course of the next few weeks. Despite its initial success, the plan to keep Carmilla well fed quickly fell apart, due to factors mostly outside of her own and Hector's control... such as humans being desperate to escape whatever fate awaited them and struggling against their Night Creature captors, resulting in the human either escaping or dying.

Even the creatures which had been specifically created for the task were facing difficulty completing it successfully. Some of them never returned at all, having been killed by humans or caught in the sun after venturing too far to return to the castle in time. Those that did succeed in their mission often brought prey that was insufficient. The creatures seemed to have no capacity to understand what would or would not make a suitable meal. Small children were easier for them to carry, but contained much less blood than Carmilla required for a full meal. Elderly or ill humans went straight into the Forgemasters' corpse piles, whether they were still alive upon arrival or not.

While they managed to figure out that Carmilla needed to have a full meal within three days of her last one (on the fourth day, she would begin showing signs of weakness which indicated the destabilization of her condition, requiring Antiflavius' medication to keep her stable until she could feed again), she often was not getting enough blood at a time. More and more often, Hector found himself offering up his own wrist or throat for her to drink from - which resulted in less Night Creatures being created, due to the time it took for him recover from the blood loss.

As such, despite certain effects of blood-drinking, the physical aspect of the couple's relationship rarely progressed much further than kissing during this trying time, as one or both partners were either too weakened or too stressed out for anything more, even when their desires were running high.

* * *

"This isn't working. The Night Creatures aren't bringing enough live humans back on a consistent basis. Furthermore, there are hunters - possibly several different groups - who are working to exterminate the Night Horde. And with Hector basically out of commission from how often he is giving Carmilla his own blood, I am having a hard time keeping up with replenishing the horde on my own."

Dracula let out a heavy sigh.

"Yes, I see the problem, Isaac. I just... don't see a _solution_."

"If-" Isaac began, but hesitated. When Dracula turned a hopeful gaze upon him, the Forgemaster swallowed his misgivings and said, "If ensuring that Carmilla's child lives is our priority here - over all else, including the extinction of humanity - then I will have all of my creatures focus on retrieving live humans instead."

"But you've just said yourself that they aren't particularly efficient at that, even under the best of circumstances."

Isaac was reluctant to suggest such a thing, since it ran directly against Dracula's ultimate goal of killing all the humans, but since Dracula was also substantially invested in seeing Carmilla's child brought into the world, the Forgemaster went ahead and shared his thoughts on the matter: "If Carmilla can exercise enough restraint _not_ to kill her prey every time she feeds, then keeping a small stable of live humans for her to drink from should solve the problem."

"When you say 'small'..."

"Perhaps a dozen or so."

Dracula steepled his hands his hands in front of him as he considered this proposition. At length, he said, "Fine. I agree, that seems like a reasonable course of action, provided that the humans _can_ be kept alive."

It would mean the dungeons would have to go through another redesign, most likely. Isaac could take care of the details if the vampire lord didn't want to be bothered with it.

"But," Dracula added, "I want this done efficiently, not merely left up to the Night Hordes."

Isaac smirked.

"I know just the vampire for the job."

* * *

When Dracula entered the War Room, his generals were bickering amongst themselves, as was usual of late.

"Godbrand," the vampire lord said, his voice sharp but not especially loud.

The generals fell silent as Godbrand stepped forward to face whatever their leader had in store for the unfortunate viking.

Dracula said nothing else, merely making an impatient 'follow me' gesture before turning right back around and departing the room once more. Somewhat cautiously, Godbrand followed him back to his study.

Dracula had been moodier than usual lately, and the generals weren't quite sure what to make of it. Besides that, none of the other vampires had seen any trace of Carmilla for several weeks, and in that time all talk of moving the castle to Braila had been shut down hard by the Forgemasters. Hector wasn't making many public appearances lately and got pissy with anyone who went down to talk to him at his forge, and simply checked out of the conversation if Carmilla's name was brought up.

However, what Godbrand found even more suspicious than that were Isaac's bland reassurances that he had seen her and she was fine, just sulking about not getting to have things her way. The vampire generals were starting to suspect that she had either been killed for her insolence or, if she was still alive, was undergoing some kind of punishment which involved being forbidden from communicating with the rest of Dracula's war council.

* * *

"Tell me something, Godbrand. How well do you remember your human life, from before you were turned into a vampire?"

The general's surprise at being asked such a thing was written on his face, and just as easy to read was the suspicion that followed as he answered cautiously, "I remember it pretty well, I think."

"And when you were human," Dracula continued, choosing to ignore the viking's obvious distrust of him, "did you eat pork?"

This question caught him even more off-guard than the previous one, but after only the moment it took him to gather his limited wits, Godbrand hastened to reply, "Not really. I mean, I know that I used to, but it always made me sick. So, I stopped."

After a brief pause, Dracula told him, "I've been thinking about what you told me a few weeks ago, and it isn't normal for a vampire to react like that to animal blood. Any blood should suffice as nourishment for our kind. I believe you may have a condition known as an _allergy_ , which carried over from your mortal life into your immortal one."

"Wait a minute," Godbrand said. "So you're telling me... that I can't eat pigs because it makes me sick, and that's some kind of disease I've had since back when I was human?"

"It's not a disease," Dracula replied, frowning. "It is, however, a legitimate medical condition. And, as your doctor, it would be remiss of me not to provide accommodations for your... disability."

Godbrand didn't seem to like the sound of that, but as far as Dracula was concerned it was still much too early to let anyone else find out about Carmilla's pregnancy, and therefore this subterfuge was necessary. And so, without giving his general time to protest, Dracula carried on.

"As such, I have decided to put you in charge of curating a small collection of humans which will be kept at the castle for the purpose of acting as a semi-permanent food source."

~to be continued~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, your comments/observations/reactions give me life, and I enjoy answering questions.


	15. Interlude A: Meanwhile, the Heroes.....

~ From a Shell ~

On the road to Arges, the hero trio came across a pack of Night Creatures that were of a different type from any of the ones they'd seen before. One of the monsters was clutching a small screaming child to its chest, and this one stepped back as the rest of the group advanced, spreading its wings as if it planned to take off with its prisoner while the rest of the pack fought the hunters.

As it prepared to take off, however, the unfortunate Night Creature found its wings encased in ice - thank to the Speaker magician's quick thinking. While Sypha concentrated on rescuing and protecting the child, Trevor and Alucard made short work of the rest of the Night Creature pack.

"Well, now that we've saved the child... what are we going to do with her?" Alucard asked.

Which was a logical question, considering the situation. What _were_ they going to do with a small child whose parents were nowhere in sight, out here in the middle of nowhere when the Night Horde was sweeping the country looking for humans to kill?

"Put it down and walk away?" Trevor suggested.

"We can't just leave _a baby_ here by herself!" Sypha protested, hugging the child protectively against her chest.

The child - a red-haired little girl who appeared to be somewhere in the range of 2-3 years old - made a small discontented sound and squirmed at being held so tightly.

"Well, what do you expect us to do? Take care of it? You can't exactly show up to fight Dracula with a baby on your hip!"

"Of course I wouldn't put a child in danger like that. So, we'll keep her with us until we find somewhere safe to leave- ow!"

Startled by the sudden flash of pain, Sypha's grip reflexively loosened.

In a surprising show of agility, Trevor dropped to his knees and managed to catch the kid before she could go splat on the ground.

"What happened?" Alucard asked.

"She bit me!"

Sypha held out her arm so that he could see the thin trails of blood leaking from two small puncture marks on her hand. As Alucard took her hand in his, bringing it to his mouth to seal the wound, the two of them heard Trevor bark out a string of startled curses.

"Shit! Fuck!"

"Not in front of the child, Belmont," Alucard admonished.

"Oh, sure," Trevor snapped, "my _language_ is the problem, not the fact that _it bit me_!"

Having more warning than Sypha that the event may have been coming - or perhaps just (literal) thicker skin - Trevor had managed to hang onto the child despite being being bitten, and was not even bleeding.

"Don't call her an 'it'. She's a baby," Sypha corrected him, as she plucked the child from his arms.

" _It_ is a baby _vampire_ ," Trevor argued, putting distinct emphasis on the pronoun.

He could see that he'd well and truly pissed the Speaker off with that comment, but before Sypha had a chance to respond, the child flung out a chubby little arm to point an accusing finger right at Trevor, and proclaimed, "Stinky!"

Which was followed by a stunned moment of silence from the adults.

"Well, she's not wrong," Alucard said. Then, not giving his companions a chance to react to that statement, he continued, "And the child is a dhampir, not a vampire."

"How can you tell?" Sypha asked, looking down at the child curiously.

"Vampires can't procreate with each other, and a human child that small would not be able to survive the turning. Not that most vampires would try turning a child that young, anyway. So, the obvious conclusion would be that this little one must have a human mother."

"A human _parent_ , anyway," Trevor said.

"Mother," Alucard insisted. "It's rare for a dhampir to be born at all, much less from a vampire mother."

"There are several infamous accounts of that happening," Trevor argued.

"And I can name both of them," Alucard replied. "Even if I _didn't_ have an idea of which vampire is most likely to have sired this particular child, it is nearly impossible for a female vampire to carry a pregnancy to term."

Sypha was only half-listening to the argument, although the subject piqued her interest, because the other half of her attention was focused on the child in her arms - who was currently chewing on the collar of the Speaker's cloak.

"Baby, no," she said, holding the toddler in one arm while attempting to extract the cloth from the child's mouth with her other hand.

"Maybe she's hungry?" Alucard said, coming over to help.

Sypha held the child in both arms as Alucard gently pried the collar of her cloak loose from where it was caught on the baby's fangs.

"I don't think so," Trevor said. When both of his companions turned to look at him with skeptical/disapproving looks, he continued in a defensive tone, "I mean, it's not like she tried to drink our blood when she bit either of us. Maybe she's just the type of kid that puts everything in their mouth?"

A moment passed in awkward silence.

Alucard was the one to break it, inquiring, "Were _you_ the type of child that put everything in their mouth, Belmont?"

"Hey, shut up," Trevor said, but with no real bite behind the words, which only served to confirm the dhampir's suspicion.

Sypha was about to ask the child directly whether she was hungry or not, but the only thing that came out of her mouth was a distressed sound as she looked down and saw that the toddler was about to start chewing on her cloak collar again.

Alucard lifted the baby from Sypha's arms, holding the child with her back against his chest, so that she was facing away from him and could not bite him or chew on any of his clothing. The child immediately began to struggle to get free, whining and slapping ineffectually at the arms restraining her when her escape attempt did not work.

At the child's antics, Alucard could not resist commenting, "Aww, that's adorable."

"You think tantrums are adorable?" Trevor asked, clearly not amused.

Already beyond tired of the two of them arguing every time they spoke to each other, Sypha stepped between her companions, and addressed her next question to the child.

"Are you hungry, baby?"

"No," the child replied, then uttered a string of incomprehensible syllables.

"You're not hungry?" Sypha asked, nonplussed.

To which the child only replied with a noncommittal, "Hmm."

Alucard, who had been observing this exchange with interest, looked down at the child and said, "Baby."

" _No_ ," the child insisted, and proceeded to repeat the same mouthful of incomprehensible syllables she had previously spoken.

"... did she... just say her name is Hilda?"

"Who in their right mind would name a child _Hilda_?"

After further questioning (and squabbling between Alucard and Trevor), the adults were able to determine that yes the child's name was indeed Hilda, and the child _was_ hungry. (Although they would later learn that she was also one those children that always put everything in their mouth.)

Of course, since the child was a dhampir, their options for finding a safe place to leave her were severely limited. They came to the conclusion that it might actually be safer to bring her with them all the way to Dracula's castle, since Alucard was almost certain that she was the child of one of Dracula's generals, and should be safe if they could somehow get her to her father.

At some point in the conversation, the idea was brought up that they should seek the knowledge contained in the Belmont hold before making any other plans. So they loaded up the cart and set off in that direction.

"Why am I the one back here with the kid?" Trevor complained, after several long hours on the road.

... which led to an argument that started with Alucard volunteering to trade places with him and look after the child, but somehow ended up with Sypha and Trevor trading places every few hours instead.

They soon discovered dhampir toddlers apparently did not need as much sleep as human children, or even human adults, and more than a full day since they'd picked her up, the child had not slept a wink. At one point, while both of the human party members slept in the back of the cart, Hilda sat on Alucard's lap up front and regaled him with her limited vocabulary.

After waking up, Trevor and Sypha were both surprised to hear that the child had still not slept yet.

"That can't be healthy," Sypha said. "She's still so little... Babies need their sleep."

After several hours of rocking her and singing lullabies and doing anything else they could think of to try to get the child to sleep, the adults were at the at the end of their wits.

"Who's a tired baby?" Trevor asked, after Sypha had given up on trying to get the child to sleep and retreated to the front seat, leaving Trevor alone with the hyperactive toddler.

"Hmm," the child hummed thoughtfully, and then after a moment pointed at Trevor.

"You're right!" he said. "It's me. _I'm_ the tired baby. Goodnight."

He proceeded to roll himself up tightly in his cloak and laid down as if he were actually planning on going back to sleep. And then a curious thing happened. Hilda came over and snuggled up to the fluffy part of Trevor's cloak, and stayed there quietly. A few minutes later, he checked and saw that the child had fallen asleep.

Suspicious at the lack of noise coming from the back of the cart, Sypha turned to look and smiled at the sight of Trevor and the child curled up together, both asleep.

Alucard didn't say anything as she turned to face forward once more, but she told him anyway, "They're asleep."

He sighed softly and replied, "I'm afraid that I've become accustomed to the racket... it's so quiet without either of them making noise."

"It's peaceful," Sypha said, leaning against her companion's shoulder. "But if it's _too_ quiet for you, we can talk... by the way, earlier you said you could name the two female vampires who had given birth to dhampir children..."

"Their names were Mara and Hippolyta."

~to be continued~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ So, here we have it, the long-awaited entrance of The Heroes into the storyline, and also the dropping of a plot twist that I have been waiting to bring up since I first started writing this! (And yes, Hilda is Godbrand's daughter.)
> 
> Another story element that I have been dying to introduce will unfortunately have to wait until after the upcoming arc is resolved. T^T ~~which i am totes gonna spoil in the comments if _anyone_ asks about it~~


	16. While the People Fall Down (i)

~ From a Shell ~

Since the entrance to the live-human containment area could only be opened by either a Forgemaster or Dracula himself, Isaac was overseeing the first delivery of human captives.

Godbrand was complaining about not being allowed free access to the holding cells, because of course the Viking could never just shut up and do what he was told.

Sick of listening to him, Isaac snapped, "What good do you think complaining to me is going to do? I didn't set the security measures; Dracula did. Special accommodations will be made for you when you're the one who's-"

Realizing what he'd almost let slip in his anger, Isaac cut himself off.

He noticed that Godbrand was looking at him with a blatantly suspicious expression, and inquired, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Instead of directly answering the Forgemaster's question, Godbrand said, "Finish your sentence."

"... when you're the one who needs them."

Unfortunately, the Viking did not fall for his bluff.

"That's _not_ what you were going to say. Before you said, 'when you're the one who's'. The one who's _what_ , Isaac? Tell me that."

_Damn it, why did today have to be the day that one of his brain cells actually decided to work?_

While Isaac had assumed the entire time that Godbrand had been kept out of the loop about Carmilla's condition, it was only at this point that he began to wonder what Dracula had actually told Godbrand about the decision to keep a stable of live humans.

"I'm not allowed to speak about it. You'll have to ask Dracula."

Godbrand continued to stare at him suspiciously for a few long moments, before finally saying, "You don't really know what's going on, do you?"

Relieved that the Viking idiot had come to a completely wrong conclusion, Isaac 'admitted' that he didn't know exactly what was going on. (Which technically _was_ true, although not in the same way that Godbrand meant it.)

True to form, Godbrand was unable to keep his mouth shut, but this time it worked in Isaac's favor as the loudmouthed Viking filled him in on the reason Dracula had given him for starting to keep live humans at the castle.

* * *

As predicted by Isaac, Carmilla's first feeding after the establishment of the human stable did not go smoothly. Even with Dracula and both Forgemasters there to supervise, she killed the first three humans she drank, even going so far as to partially consume meat from their internal organs before Dracula stopped her.

She hissed at him and struggled against his hold on her wrists, and likely would have tried to bite him if she'd been in a position where that was possible. She only calmed down after the Night Creatures cleared the corpse away and brought in her next meal. But the second went much the same as the first, except that the second time Dracula restrained Carmilla, Hector started to move toward them - his hand outstretched as if his first instinct was to comfort his lover, despite her feral state.

"Stay back," Dracula ordered.

Hector's hand dropped to his side and he backed away, his features taking on a sad cast as if it hurt him to obey. Dracula could understand the feeling, but his priority was keeping everyone here safe. (Although the unfortunate human 'livestock' were on the low end of the priority scale.)

Carmilla's fourth victim was also drained beyond the point of being able to be saved, although the observers took it as a good sign that she did not eviscerate the corpse. As the Night Creatures moved in to clear the body away, Carmilla glanced cautiously toward Dracula. When he made no move to restrain her, she darted to Hector's side. Her lover immediately responded by putting his arm around her.

* * *

Hector brought one hand up to brush Carmilla's hair away from her face. He wiped a drop of blood from the corner of her mouth, which she then licked from his thumb.

"Are you still hungry?" he asked.

She nodded. Even without the confirmation, he could tell by looking at her eyes that she hadn't quite reached the full-blown lust-addled state of satiation yet.

"Can you please try not kill this one? We want to keep your food alive, remember? So you'll be able to feed from them again later, so we won't have another situation where we're desperate to keep you from starving..."

He stroked his thumb over her cheek and she leaned into the touch.

"I'll try," she answered, sounding rather ambivalent about her chance of success.

Her fifth victim managed to survive the feeding, although whether that was due to Carmilla actually exercising some amount of self-control, or simply because she was finished before the human ran out of blood, he couldn't tell.

No sooner than she finished drinking from her latest meal, Hector started making his way toward her. He wasn't sure how she would react to the other males in the room in her lust-ridden state, and he was half-afraid she would do something to give away the false state of their relationship.

His fears proved unfounded, however. Carmilla completely ignored Isaac and Dracula as the two of them escorted the livestock human back to a containment cell. She went straight to Hector, smiling as she caught sight of him coming to her. Once they reached each other, she slid her arms around his neck and pressed a blood-flavored kiss to his mouth. He returned it briefly before pulling away, casting a worried look toward the hallway where the others had disappeared. They were sure to be back at any moment.

Carmilla gave an amused hum and nuzzled her partner's cheek.

"Bedroom?" she murmured.

"Yes, let's go."

Once they were back in their bedroom, the pair wasted no time in settling into a favored position - Hector seated on the edge of the bed with Carmilla in his lap. Their mouths met in hungry kisses, both of them making sounds that they would have been embarrassed to have anyone else hear.

They hadn't bothered to undress first, which Hector didn't think was a problem until he broke away to trail kisses down Carmilla's neck, only to have his lips meet cool metal rather than the familiar soft skin he'd been expecting. His fingers scrabbled against the back of the smooth golden... necklace? collar? armor? He didn't know what the fucking thing was called, and he didn't particularly _care_. He just wanted it out of his way.

"How do I take this off?"

She laughed a little before guiding his hand to the hidden latch that allowed the piece to be removed. Once it was off (and had been carefully set aside), he leaned down to nuzzle her neck and press tender kisses to the sensitive flesh there.

* * *

Carmilla leaned into the embrace, wrapping her arms loosely around Hector's shoulders. She brought one hand up to play in the springy curls of his hair. She made soft sounds of pleasure as his kisses became harder, hungrier. His grip on her became bolder, his hands sliding down from her waist to her hips, clearly communicating his own desire as he pulled her against him.

Then, suddenly, Hector stopped and lifted his head.

"Is this really okay?" he asked.

"Of course," Carmilla answered with a barely a pause, but something about his expression stopped her from entreating him to continue his ministrations. "Hector? What's wrong?"

"I just... I don't think this is right," he said softly, looking away from her even as he hugged her closer to him. "It's not... _right_ for me to be with you like this, when you're-" He paused, flailing for the correct term. "-inebriated."

 _Ah, so he's having moral compunctions over my state of mind... again_.

It had taken some convincing to get him into bed with her that first time. The second time he'd gone along willingly enough, but surely he was recalling how she'd reacted afterward - and although her emotional breakdown that time had little to do with the sex act itself, Hector had no way of knowing that. She couldn't explain it to him without bringing up uncomfortable topics which she refused to get into with him.

Carmilla didn't know what she could do or say to ease his guilt and reassure him that he wasn't taking advantage of her. If anyone was being taken advantage of in this situation, it was _him_ , not her. But she could hardly say that to him and expect anything good to come of it.

"Well," she said. "Finding another lover isn't really an option for me at this point, but if you're uncomfortable with this, I can go masturbate instead."

As she got up from his lap, Hector looked up at her with a startled expression at how openly she spoke of such things.

"Although that doesn't relieve the condition as fully as someone else getting me off does," Carmilla added with a sigh, as she drifted toward the bathroom, resigned to having to take care of her needs herself.

~to be continued~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, your comments/observations/reactions give me life. (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ Please interact.


	17. While the People Fall Down (ii)

~ From a Shell ~

Dracula and Isaac escorted the prisoner - a somewhat portly, middle-aged female human - back to the containment cell. Although perhaps 'cell' was a bit too bleak of a term to describe the rooms in which the vampire food was kept. While they were locked in an area that they were unable to escape, the captive humans each had a small bedroom of their own, with access to communal areas for biological needs such as eating and bathing. The living accommodations were better quality than what most of these peasants would have had in the small towns where they had previously resided.

The vampire lord and his Forgemaster did not speak to each other throughout the process, all conversation (except instructions directed at the prisoner) on hold until after they'd returned to the vampire-feeding chamber.

Upon entering the room, Isaac's first comment was an observation of the obvious: "Hector and Carmilla aren't here."

"Well, I'd imagine they were in a hurry to... _take care of some things_ after that," Dracula said, sounding amused.

Isaac, who did not appreciate this insight into his fellow Forgemaster's sex life, chose not to respond directly to Dracula's comment.

"I hope that after this Carmilla manages to have some self-control when she feeds. It's already going to be difficult enough to keep her condition a secret from Godbrand _without_ having to think of an explanation for half of the livestock being wiped out in a single feeding."

Dracula sighed and said, "Godbrand is going to be a problem, isn't he? He may not be very bright, but he's certainly _persistent_."

"He's like a dog with a bone," Isaac agreed. "Once he gets hold of something, he doesn't let it go. And he's already suspicious about there being more to the livestock situation than he's been told."

However, informing Godbrand of the actual situation could prove more troublesome than attempting to keep him in the dark about it.

Dracula sighed again.

"Come, Isaac. Follow me to my study and we'll discuss this further."

"Perhaps we could go to the library instead," Isaac suggested. When Dracula merely looked at him with one eyebrow raised, the Forgemaster explained, "I was thinking I could help you start putting those books in some kind of order."

"Is that really what you want to do with your spare time?"

"I live only to serve you, my lord."

For a moment Dracula almost thought that the Forgemaster might be flirting with him, but he quickly dismissed the idea as himself reading too much into the slightly playful note in Isaac's voice.

The two of them had nearly reached the library when they crossed Carmilla in the hallway.

"She... looked angry," Isaac commented, after she'd passed by. "I wonder what Hector did to piss her off so badly in the short time since we last saw them."

Dracula had several guesses as to what may have happened. He let out a heavy sigh. It looked like figuring out what to do about the situation with Godbrand would have to wait.

"Go and talk to her, Isaac. I'll speak with Hector."

* * *

Even though the door to Hector's bedroom was hanging partway open, Dracula knocked and once he had his Forgemaster's attention, politely requested permission to enter.

Once Hector had explained the problem to him (with much blushing and trying avoid saying exactly what he and Carmilla had been doing), Dracula took it upon himself to educate the young man on certain points of vampire biology.

"A vampire becoming blood-drunk is not the same as a human being intoxicated on alcohol. In such a state our senses are heightened, rather than dulled. It is easy for us to become overstimulated in that state, mentally as well as our other senses, and vampires tend to fall back on instinct so that we don't become paralyzed in our actions by getting caught up in overthinking every little thing." He paused, unsure if the Forgemaster was taking all of this in. "Do you understand?"

Hector nodded in response, even though his expression said he still didn't fully comprehend what the vampire lord was trying to tell him.

Although it was awkward to speak of such things, Dracula carried on, "Arousal is also heightened during this state, and the most effective way to burn off the excess energy from overfeeding is through sexual stimulation. A vampire will instinctively seek their mate during this time, or the person to whom they are most attracted if they don't already have an established partner."

"Is there any other way to... relieve the condition?" Hector asked.

"Anger will do the trick almost as quickly, although I would _not_ advise you to provoke a blood-drunk vampire to aggression even if she were not pregnant." Hector seemed startled at that response. Dracula continued, "Waiting it out or sleeping off the effects also work, but are slower and less comfortable solutions."

Hector nodded slowly, taking a few moments to digest this information. After a long thoughtful pause, he looked up and asked, "Would... a vampire be more emotional when she's in a blood-drunk state?"

From the way he asked it, as well as his expression, Dracula could surmise that Hector was thinking of something specific that Carmilla had done.

"Yes, it's quite possible."

After that, Hector was quiet for a few long moments, before finally saying, "I should probably apologize to her."

"That would be a good start," Dracula agreed.

* * *

Isaac very much did not want to follow the vampire lord's order. Talking to Carmilla about her relationship problems - in her _fake_ relationship - especially if it involved intimate details of her sex life with Hector, was not something he wanted any part of. However, he did not protest, because being sent to talk with his fellow Forgemaster instead would be worse, especially if Hector was still angry with Isaac for voicing his objections to the so-called relationship.

And so Isaac reluctantly trudged to the generals' quarters and knocked on Carmilla's door. Her response was immediate.

"Go away, Hector!"

"It's Isaac."

"Go away, _Isaac_."

"As much as I would love to do that, Dracula sent me to talk to you," Isaac said. "So one way or another, we're having this conversation. I think you would prefer it not to be shouted through the door."

A few long moments passed before he heard the click of the lock turning. The door swung open and Carmilla begrudgingly invited him inside.

"What happened?" he asked without preamble.

Carmilla explained the situation, thankfully keeping the intimate details brief and vague.

"And he just suddenly objected to it, right in the middle of... everything?" Isaac asked skeptically.

"He seemed pretty damn eager right up until we were about to-" She took one look at Isaac's face and said "-you know" instead of naming the act. "And then suddenly he was all 'It's not _right_ for me to do this with you when you're _inebriated_.' Ugh." She did a bad imitation of Hector's voice when quoting the line.

Isaac wasn't sure how to respond to that. He didn't have any particular insight into what Hector might have been thinking.

During this lull in the conversation, Carmilla turned away from her interlocutor and scrubbed a knuckle against the corner of her eye. It was this action that bought Isaac's attention to a pink streak in the vampire's white-blonde hair, running from her temple down approximately a quarter of her hair's total length. Then he noticed that she had a cloak on over her usual dress, despite the fact that she was in her own bedroom and vampires are unaffected by the cold. It took him a few moments to come to the realization that what had taken her so long to come to the door was that she'd been trying to hide the signs that she'd been crying... although there hadn't been much she could do about the blood that had gotten in her hair without it looking more suspicious.

 _I do not - and **will** not - feel sorry for her_, he told himself sternly as he scrambled for something to say. Anything to relieve the awkwardness of this situation and conclude the conversation.

"Was this the first time that he expressed such concerns?" Isaac asked.

"No," Carmilla answered. "But I thought we were past that already."

"You mean you brushed off his concerns and he went along with it, despite not adequately addressing them?"

She was still turned away from him, so he couldn't read her expression, but he could tell from the tension of her posture that he'd struck a nerve.

Carmilla sighed and admitted, "Something like that."

An awkward silence dragged on for several agonizing moments.

"I hate to tell you this," Isaac said finally, "but it sounds like... he _might_ actually care about you."

~to be continued~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, your comments/observations/reactions give me life. (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧


	18. While the People Fall Down (iii)

~ From a Shell ~

After Isaac left, Carmilla cleaned the streak of blood from her hair and changed into a nightgown.

She made several attempts at taking a nap before finally admitting to herself that she was too restless to sleep. She'd gotten herself off earlier before she'd stormed out of the room she shared with Hector, but neither that nor the crying fit afterward had been enough to fully clear the excess energy from her system.

If she wanted a nap, she was going to have to take care of this first; there was no other solution. She definitely didn't want to face Hector again until she was entirely free of her blood-drunk state.

With a sigh, she shifted position, pulled her skirt up, and slid her hand between her thighs.

Just the physical action wasn't enough, so she slipped into a familiar fantasy. Soon, however, her thoughts drifted to Hector and her recent _actual_ sexual encounters with him. Aggravated at the direction of her own thoughts, she wrenched her mind back to her favorite fantasy - one that involved several very beautiful women and men who worked together to serve her every whim. However, no matter how many times she tried to picture only her dream harem, her subconscious kept inserting her current lover into the scene.

Finally she gave up and stopped fighting her own desires, letting her mind drift back to that first night she'd spent with Hector...

She couldn't quite recall the exact sensation of the release that Hector had given her that night, but she couldn't help thinking the one she'd just given herself paled in comparison.

She got up from the bed just long enough clean herself up, before curling up to take a nap.

* * *

Carmilla woke up feeling refreshed, and - after changing into a proper outfit once more - immediately sought out her mate.

When she found Hector, he was busy at his forge, but he stopped what he was doing when he saw her. She could hear Isaac working in the adjoining forge room, and silently gestured to her partner that they should retreat to their soundproofed room before having this conversation.

Hector followed her to the bedroom, closing and locking the door behind him once they were inside.

Carmilla wasn't sure how to start the conversation they needed to have... but luckily for her, Hector took the initiative for once.

"I'm sorry about earlier," he said. "I didn't mean to hurt you, or insult you... I was just worried."

She had realized after her conversation with Isaac that what happened earlier between her and Hector had been a misunderstanding, and that Hector had been trying to look after and protect her. However, while she knew that, having a repentant partner here in front of her was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

"If you really want to apologize, you should do it on your knees."

He stared blankly at her, his thoughts clearly showing on his face as he wondered why she thought his apology would seem any more sincere if he knelt while giving it. She backed away from him to sit on the edge of the bed, watching him with an amused smirk. She let him suffer in confusion for a few long moments, and once it seemed that he was not going to come up with a clue on his own, she slowly spread her legs and beckoned him to come to her.

Bright scarlet patches blossomed on his cheeks as he finally caught on to what she was demanding of him. And yet he didn't hesitate to come over and kneel before her, pushing her skirt out of the way and stripping her of her undergarments.

He paused only long enough to inform her, "I haven't done this before."

"I'll tell you what to do," she assured him, cupping the back of his neck in her hand and gently urging him forward.

* * *

Although he remembered how she liked to be touched, her intimate flesh felt different against his lips and tongue than it did under his fingertips, and even with her giving him instructions, it took a while for him to get his bearings.

He knew he was getting it right when her instructions went from full sentences to being wordless cries of pleasure occasionally interspersed with terse commands of "yes, there" or "harder!"

When he made a certain move with his tongue, she let out a high-pitched whine and fisted her hand in his hair. He repeated the maneuver and was rewarded with a flood of liquid in his mouth as tremors wracked his partner's core.

He started to pull away, but she demanded in a ragged voice, " _More_."

Hector kept going until the aftershocks of her release subsided and she gently pushed his head away.

Laying his cheek against her thigh, he looked up at her with a cheeky smile and asked, "Am I forgiven now, or do you need to come again?"

"Yes."

"Yes, what?"

"Yes, you're _forgiven_ ," she growled, giving his hair an impatient tug. "Now get up here."

Hector stood up, and moved to join his partner on the bed.

Before he could sit down, Carmilla snapped, "Clothes off!"

He quickly undressed, and when he moved to join her on the bed he saw that she'd shed the rest of her clothing as well. Once he was in position, she wasted no time in straddling him.

* * *

Carmilla was in no hurry to get off this time and, having more control over herself than she'd had during their previous frantic blood-fueled matings, she began to ride him slowly.

Hector wrapped his arms loosely around her waist, seemingly unenthusiastic to continue as he asked hesitantly, "Are you okay? Does it... feel good?"

"Yes. Why are you asking?" She couldn't keep a note of suspicion out of her voice as she halted her motions to address her partner's concerns.

"Well, because... I... it's just... you're being quiet," he stammered out.

_Does that mean he judges the level of my pleasure by the sounds I make?_

Carmilla lifted a hand to play with his hair.

"Ah, I'm not blood-drunk now, so it's going to take more effort on your part to get me _that_ worked up again, especially after I've already come," she said, with a teasing grin. "And, trust me, I will let you know _immediately_ if I'm not enjoying what you're doing." She leaned in to press a brief, soft kiss to his lips. "So, do as you like."

No sooner than the invitation was given, it was enthusiastically accepted. Hector captured her mouth in a tender kiss, which Carmilla reciprocated. She shifted her weight, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her body closer to his.

As she started to rock her hips in a gentle rhythm, he broke the kiss long enough to say, "I thought you were going to let me lead."

"Mmm, I said you could do as you like, not that I'd let you lead," she said, and sealed her mouth over his once more.

She half-expected him to break away again to argue the point, but he surprised her by merely matching her pace, in both the kiss and the pace of her thrusts. When he did pull his mouth away from hers, it was to trail kisses down her neck. Which, she was coming to realize, must be something he liked doing because it was the one thing he always did whenever the two of them were intimate, although she'd never requested it of him - not even during that first night they'd spent together, which had in many ways shaped their subsequent encounters.

* * *

Carmilla let out a low moan as Hector's teeth grazed her neck. He proceeded to lick and suck that same spot, savoring the pleasured noises she made almost as much as the taste of her skin.

She wasn't being nearly as vocal now as she'd been the previous times they'd fucked, and he wondered if that was because she simply wasn't as stimulated by their current actions, or if it was by design. Was she _trying_ not to make sounds because she was embarrassed to have him hear them? Or was it merely something she was less restrained about when acting purely on instinct?

He wanted to hear her.

His kisses became rougher, more insistent, as he tried to coax more noises out of her.

Carmilla whined and tugged on his hair. Unsure whether that was an expression of discontent or not, Hector lifted his head. Before he had a chance to voice his concerns, Carmilla's mouth crashed against his in a hard kiss. He could feel the outline of her fangs behind her lips as she insistently pressed her mouth to his. He froze, never having experienced anything quite like this before, and not knowing how to respond to such a fierce hunger from his partner.

Despite the violence of her kiss, her hips continued in the smooth steady rhythm that she'd set from the beginning.

As suddenly as the kiss had begun, it ended. And that was all the warning he had before her body tensed and shuddered around him, her cries ringing in his ears as she clung to his shoulders and rode out her climax. His arms closed tightly around her and he called out her name as he followed her over the edge.

~to be continued~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter gave me so many problems. I had a hard time deciding whether to include a full flashback to the first time they slept together or not, but I ended up deciding not to include it after all. (The chapter would have been way too long if I tried to add another scene to it, and that particular scene isn't really relevant to the plot. I might write it out and post it as a separate oneshot sometime, though.)
> 
> As always, your comments/observations/reactions give me life. (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧


	19. While the People Fall Down (iv)

~ From a Shell ~

On his way back from speaking with Hector, Dracula stopped by the library. Isaac was there, industriously sorting through a single shelf's worth of books.

"How did your talk with Carmilla go?" the vampire lord asked without preamble.

"About as well as could be expected, given the situation," Isaac replied.

He hated keeping secrets from Dracula, but saw no reason to share what he knew about the false beginning of Carmilla and Hector's relationship. While Isaac still did not precisely _like_ the idea of the two of them being together, he could now see their relationship for what it truly was: a bond forged from the determination to keep and raise the child that had been conceived during an ill-fated one night stand. He had, at first, assumed that Carmilla's intentions were manipulative, but after what he'd witnessed during the weeks they struggled to keep Carmilla fed and from his conversation with her today, Isaac was convinced that she was just as much a victim of the situation as Hector was. Furthermore, she seemed to be developing tender feelings toward her mate without even realizing it and had no idea how to handle her own emotions.

For some reason, Dracula seemed to be under the impression that the couple had been in a romantic relationship before the child was conceived. Which was a relatively harmless assumption in the grand scheme of things, although Isaac did wonder if it had led the vampire lord into giving Hector bad advice.

Issac glanced at the vampire lord out of the corner of his eye as he continued to sort through the stacks of books. Dracula nodded slowly, frowning at the mess of books. He picked one up and idly leafed through it for a moment before sighing and setting it back down.

"I suppose I had better go and speak with Godbrand. I had him summoned to my study. He's probably already waiting for me," Dracula said, sounding like he'd much rather be doing anything else.

"I will be here when you get back."

* * *

Carmilla continue to cling to Hector, even after the last echoes of their mutual pleasure had faded and their bodies were parted from their intimate joining. She was curled up in his lap, her face pressed into the crook of his neck. Hector's arms were wrapped tightly around her waist, partly out of a desire to return her embrace and partly to keep her from falling off of his lap, which - between the somewhat awkward position in which she was sitting and the fact that his legs were starting to go numb under her weight - he was beginning to fear might be a real possibility.

"Let's go get cleaned up," he said softly.

In response to this suggestion, Carmilla made a sound of mild discontent. But she unfolded herself from his lap a moment later, and started gathering the things she would need for a bath.

It took Hector longer to follow. He nearly fell down as soon as he stood up.

"What are you doing?"

Hector looked up to find Carmilla staring at him with a mildly perplexed expression.

"My foot's asleep," he replied sheepishly. Although this was hardly the most embarrassing thing she'd ever seen him doing, he felt like an absolute fool as he proceeded to stomp his foot several times, trying to get the feeling to come back to it.

"Oh. I'd almost forgotten what it's like to have such inconvenient bodily functions."

And, with that, she disappeared into the bathroom.

"The perks of being a vampire," Hector grumbled under his breath, followed by "Shit!" as the circulation returned to his foot, lighting up his nerves with sharp lances of pain.

It took a few more moments for that to fade. Then, once his body parts were all working properly again, he picked out a pair of clean pajamas and joined Carmilla in the bathroom.

He saw that she'd already filled the bathtub with water, but had waited for him without getting in. She beckoned him to enter, and he obliged. She then joined him the water. He parted his legs to make room for her and she sat in the space between them. She leaned back against his chest, languid and relaxed, and apparently in no hurry to actually get washed.

For a few awkward moments, Hector couldn't figure out where he should put his hands, eventually settling for wrapping his arms loosely around Carmilla's waist. It seemed he'd chosen correctly, as she responded by laying her arms over his with a contended sigh.

* * *

They stayed like that for a long while, until the water began to cool and Carmilla felt Hector shifting uncomfortably.

She sighed and said, "I suppose we'd better actually get cleaned up now, before the water gets cold."

"I thought vampires couldn't feel the cold."

He sounded more puzzled about it than she thought that statement warranted.

She turned around to look at him as she replied, "Not suffering the adverse effects of something and being entirely unable to sense it are two very different things."

"Oh, right," Hector said slowly, the confusion fading from his expression. "Vampires have very acute senses."

The conversation died at that point, and did not pick back up again as the two of them took turns washing each other. At first Hector was surprised that Carmilla wanted to reciprocate the action, rather than leaving him to take care of himself, but he did not protest.

Grooming each other was common behavior for mated pairs in the animal kingdom. Although Hector wasn't sure that generally extended to humans, perhaps it was more of the vampire's animalistic instincts coming into play...

* * *

Hector wasn't really sure whether it was day or night, but he felt tired enough to sleep, and he'd already changed into his pajamas after the bath anyway, so once they were back in the bedroom, he immediately went to bed.

No sooner than he'd lain down, Carmilla climbed into the bed beside him and draped herself over him. It wouldn't be a very comfrotable position to sleep in. However, he reflected as she nuzzled his neck, his partner seemed more intent on cuddling with him at the moment than on going to sleep.

Her fangs grazed his throat.

"What are you doing?" he blurted out in surprise.

"I want your blood..."

"You're hungry again already?"

"No, not... I don't know how to explain it. It's not that I'm hungry or... _need_ blood right now, really. I just have this-" She made a vague gesture with one hand, as she struggled to come up with the words to communicate what she meant. "-instinctive desire to take _your_ blood in particular. Not necessarily very much, just... some."

She sounded defensive about it, and he rubbed her back to soothe her.

"It's alright," he said. "You can drink from me."

He purposely did not add a qualifier to the statement such as 'if you need to'. Whether it was an actual physical need, or an emotional desire, or just some instinctual craving that she didn't entirely understand herself, he would gladly give his blood to assuage her discomfort.

True to her word, she drank only a few mouthfuls before closing the wound. Afterward, she settled down to sleep, still half draped over him with her face pressed into the crook of his neck.

~to be continued~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Between the Good Omens fandom hitting me like a freight train, the summer heat and other stressful real-life events, and my brain being an asshole (both in general and about working on this fic in particular), I've had a hell of a time getting this chapter written.
> 
> As always, your comments/observations/reactions give me life. (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ please interact~


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